Goodbyes
by OOT Obssessed
Summary: After everything thats happened you would think i was used to saying goodbye by now. But that didnt make it any easier to watch him leave, hellbent on finding his brother in the demon-infested city Atlanta had become. DarylXOC
1. Rescued

The eerie familiarity of the situation made me shiver.

Of course there was one of those things right around the corner. It hadn't discovered me yet, but soon enough it would be able to smell me. Damn zombies. I was trapped. There were walkers surrounding the building and quite a few on the inside of the old high schoo.l

I had come in with hopes of scavenging supplies: food, water, medicine. Anything I could find that might possibly help ease the danger and discomfort of our current situation. MY current situation. It almost made me sad to think about how alone I was; everyone in the group I had been traveling with had succumbed to the virus. I was almost sad, but at the moment I was focusing on not peeing my pants as I heard the walker around the corner sniff the air and turn to face the wall I was standing behind.

Coming to a school was probably not a very safe idea; public places were always crowded with walkers. But I had been running out of options. Evert easily accessible store or safe house had been looted, ransacked, staked-out, or overrun. Supplies were running low everywhere.

I held my breath as the walker shuffled closer, making sick, gurgling noises deep in its throat. My hands clenched around the red fire axe I had found beside an overturned fire truck down the street. My hands were slick with sweat and I prayed to whatever god was listening that the axe didn't slip out of my hand when I attacked the corpse.

It stumbled a few steps closer and I took an involuntary step back. My movement cost me, though. It alerted another walker at the end of the hall that I hadn't noticed. I heard its growl as it began shambling towards me on what appeared to be one broken leg and one leg with no flesh on it.

It was still about halfway down the hall from me when the walker around the corner popped up, startling me enough for the axe to slip through my fingers. It sat on the ground right next to me, so I bent to retrieve it, but I was sure any other walkers in the halls would have heard the clatter. I panicked and swung at the reanimated body. Luck was on my side. The wedged blade of the axe lodged itself deep inside the head of the walker.

I reveled in my triumph for one second too long. My axe was still stuck in the head of walker #1 when walker #2 decided to go for a surprise attack. Sneaky bastard. He growled right in my ear. I jumped and walked to the other side of the dead walker's body, putting it between the still semi-alive walker and myself. I tried yanking the axe out of the walker's head, but it was stuck fast and the second walker was getting closer. Trying to avoid the creature's mouth, I shoved it back, buying myself very little time. The brains of the first walker was like black quicksand. I soon gave up on pulling the axe free and ran back around the corner where the first walker had come from.

Big mistake. There were about 4 more walkers at the end of this hallway who looked up at me, acknowledging my presence after I growled in frustration.

I ran back around the corner, narrowly avoiding the grasping hands of walker #2. I sprinted as fast as I could to a set of blood-stained stairs cluttered with desks, filing cabinets, and papers with grades ranging from 96 to 32. Most were F's. I took the time in the middle of running from what caused the end of the world to be disappointed in the teenage generation. I mean, sure, i was never the worlds best student, hell i was far from it, but a 32, really? They could afford to study a little more. Or at least they used to be able to. I almost shook my head in disappointment, but then I remembered what was chasing me.

I raced down flight after flight of stairs, not daring to look back as the sound of dead pairs of feet multiplied.

I was finally on the high school's ground floor. All I would have to do is round a few corners to the entrance hall, get out the front doors and speed out of town in my big red pickup. I turned one corner and heard a few more walkers joining the mob behind me.

Just as I thought it was weird that there were no walkers ahead of me, a group of 6 stepped out of a classroom. I sidestepped them as I ran but the small move slowed me down dangerously. I stepped on the side of my right foot, putting my full weight on it. Searing pain shot through my ankle. I let out a brief cry of pain, but didn't allow myself to stop. I just slowed down a bit, unable to keep the same speed with the injury. I limped on the wounded foot as I ran. They were sure to catch me if I kept this pace up.

I turned the last corner and found a wall of at least 15 zombies blocking the entrance. Shit. I cursed my luck as I realized this was it. This was the end. I leaned against the wall next to a janitor's closet and closed my eyes in defeat.

I heard them closing in around me. I heard the hungry moans of the undead. I heard the janitor's closet door open and a hand shot out and yanked me hard, pulling me inside.

I fell to the floor of the janitor's closet, which was oddly spacious, and the door slammed shut behind me. I had been prepared to be eaten, but these tall figures were alive. They weren't moaning, stumbling, or oozing. And they were talking.

"Keep quiet," one of them said, crouching down low. He sounded like a very young boy. Not quite an adult, but not quite a child. Maybe a very small teenager.

I nodded, though I figured he wouldn't see it, since there were no lights on in the closet.

There was a man standing by the door, looking out the foggy glass at the shadowed silhouettes of the walkers in the hall. There was another two men here, one a heavy-set man and the other tall and thin.

The tall, thin one offered me a hand and I shakily accepted it. Who were these people? I didn't know if I could trust them, but they had saved my life, so I was grateful to them.

We stood in darkness, me leaning heavily on the back wall, for what felt like days but was actually only an hour, before the walkers gave up, too confounded with the concept of a doorknob to give any more thought to the promising meal on the other side. The man by the door took a few steps away from it as the last walker shuffled away, moaning in confusion and hunger.

"You bit?" asked the one from in front of the door. His Georgian drawl made me want to smile or laugh, but the danger and overall scariness of the situation made me rethink the expression.

"No. No, I'm not bitten. But I think I sprained my ankle. I was running and stepped on it wrong." I explained in a whisper as a few walkers stumbled past the door.

I saw the man with the thick accent nod his head.

"How do we get out of here?" the tall man asked.

The young kid said, "There should be some air ducts in here somewhere that lead to the roof. If you can help me get the grating off, I can crawl through them a bit and figure out an escape route and then I'll come back to get y'all when I've made sure the coast is clear."

The man with the accent started to object, but the taller man cut him off with a harsh whisper. "Now is not the time for you to be having trust issues, Daryl. Its either we let Glenn scout up ahead or we die. Which one'll it be?"

I heard a slight growl from Mr. Accent (or Daryl as I had just discovered), but he nodded one short, curt nod.

Then we began searching the walls of the room for the grating over the air vent.

"I think I found it," I whispered, feeling around the edges of a large, square piece of metal with slits in it. All 4 of the other guys came over to feel the thing.

"Its screwed to the wall," the tall guy said in a disappointed whisper.

"This is a janitors closet. There's gotta be some tools 'round here somewhur," Daryl drawled, walking over to where we could see the outline of a box beneath one of the shelves. He pulled out two different sized screwdrivers and handed one of them off to the tall guy. They began unscrewing the grating, trying to be as quiet as possible. It only took a few minutes before the screws fell into their hands and they could lift the grating off and set it in the corner.

The young man, Glenn, hoisted himself inside the air duct where he fit easily and began crawling down it. I saw him pull out a small handgun as he crawled away.

I turned back to the others and noticed they, too, were armed. The tall guy had a shotgun, the heavier looking one had a baseball bat, and Daryl had some kind of weapon that was not easily identifiable in small, dark spaces like janitors closets.

The tall man came forward holding out a hand. "Officer Rick Grimes."

I shook his hand and said, "Keagan Brooks."


	2. Overlooking the Dead

The majority of our very long and uncomfortable wait in the janitor's closet was spent listening to Daryl grumble about "Goddamn slant-eyes". He obviously had some kind of problem with Glenn.

The other man in here with us was a guy who went by the name of T-dog. He seemed nice enough.

The only one that didn't was Daryl and he just seemed like every other boy back in Texas. Cranky, foul-mouthed, and skilled in the weapons department. He was nothing I couldn't deal with.

I sat back in the corner beside the air vent, listening for any sign of Glenn. We waited for what must've been at least an hour and a half before I heard some fabric-on-metal noises accompanied by Glenn's mumbled curses.

I hurried to stand on my hurt ankle. I looked down the duct and came face to face with Glenn.

"I found a way out," he whispered as I stood back so he could maneuver out of the hole in the wall. He gave us a rundown of the directions through the vents and out to the roof of the building. It would take a while to get there, but we could make it as long as we didn't weight the ducts down too much. We would have to stay a few feet apart so as not to put too much pressure on one spot in the vents.

After his short explanation, he began crawling through the vents. Next came T-dog, then Rick, then me, and Daryl came last, watching the rear. _Or my rear_, I internally giggled at the immature but realistic thought.

I found it was easier to crawl on my hands and knees than to limp and run on my now bad ankle.

I was extremely claustrophobic, so that served as kind of a problem. More internal than external, but a problem all the same. Don't get me wrong, the vents weren't the smallest hole in the world, but they definitely weren't the biggest. I felt my breath coming faster and forced myself to keep moving. I slowed down a bit, though, wondering why I hadn't thought about this minor detail before crawling around in here. There was no turning back now though.

When I slowed down, Daryl gave an agitated growl and whispered, "Keep it movin'!"

I nodded and kept up the pace I had been working with before I gave much thought to the small space. I tried to slow my breathing to a normal speed, thinking that if the walkers heard my breathing, they'd know we were here and get aggressive. And that was only if they hadn't already smelled us crawling through their air supply.

I pulled my thoughts away from the negative and focused on the small bit of light I could see coming around the next corner. We turned left and T-dog and Rick helped hoist me out and onto the roof.

I took a deep breath of the relatively clean air and scrunched my nose up as I caught the scent of something dead… Oh, right… The whole fucking world. I frowned at the thought and looked around. For the first time, I got a good look at my rescuers.

Glenn was a scrawny Asian boy with black hair and a blue and white baseball cap.

T-dog was quite obviously of African descent, with a lump on his forehead and a gap between his front teeth.

Rick seemed to be a policeman. He had on a tan police uniform, a cowboy hat, and a star-shaped gold badge pinned over his heart. He had brown hair, the beginnings of a beard, and the kind of blue eyes I used to wish I had… back when I wished for trivial things like that. Now it didn't matter what color eyes you had; you were food for them either way.

Daryl was completely different from all of them. He, too, had blue eyes, but not the soft kind Rick had. They were more defensive, angry, and non-direct. He wore a sweat- and blood-stained shirt with the sleeves ripped off, showing thick muscles banded around his upper arm. He was covered from head to toe in dirt, blood, and sweat. He seemed to have a sneer permanently etched on his face.

I walked to an upraised piece of the roof and sat on it, alleviating the pressure on my right foot.

T-dog, Rick, and Glenn walked to the edge of the roof, looking out over what must've been a lot of walkers. "Oh, God," T-dog breathed.

Daryl moved behind me and looked over the back of the school.

I saw in his hand that dark, unidentifiable weapon he carried. It was black crossbow. I shit you not.

I pulled myself to my feet again, grunting quietly in pain as my right foot hit the ground. I walked to the front side of the roof and looked to the right corner of the parking lot.

There she was. My baby. My poor truck. There were tons of walkers milling about in the parking lot and wandering aimlessly throughout the street ahead of it. We would never make it out. But it almost worried me more that my dear truck was in the middle of that sea of monsters. I sighed and eyed Big Red longingly.

"That yer truck?" Daryl asked, coming over to stand between me and T-dog.

I nodded, frowning and wincing when one of the walkers bumped the drivers' side door and left a blood smear the size of its torso.

"Got anything valuable in it?" Rick asked, stepping closer.

"About 332 horses and a half a tank of gas," I said, staring dejectedly at my baby.

Rick gave me a "you know that's not what I meant" look.

I sighed, eyeing the silver rhino bed bars, big tires, and silver mesh grill of my Chevy Hybrid. "There are some medical supplies in there. 2 shotguns with 20 rounds each, one berretta with no more ammo. And food. I've got plenty of food."

Their eyes lit up.

Rick retreated back toward the upraised parts of the roof and we all took seats. Well, everyone but Daryl who seemed too restless to sit.

Rick began laying out a plan. "Glenn, we are gonna have to do the same thing we did by that department store in Atlanta, but on a smaller scale. We'll need a different distraction. Think you can do that?"

Glenn thought for a moment before saying, "I can do that, but we'll need a way off of the roof first, and I don't think it should be through the halls."

I agreed with him their.

"I saw some rope in the closet back thur," Daryl said, scratching the back of his head. "Migh' not be 'nough but it migh' help."

Rick nodded and said, "Go back to the closet with Glenn and scavenge what you can."

Daryl scowled but consented, crawling back down the vent with Glenn, who looked downright terrified.

I laid back and tried to ignore the moans of the dead and take a small nap before Daryl and Glenn got back.


	3. Rules of Texas

DARYL'S POV:

Glenn was silent the entire crawl down to the janitor's closet and when we got there, he still didn't say much.

I clambered ungracefully out of the hole, grateful for the dark that shrouded the awkward movements. I grabbed the bundle of rope I had seen and looped it around my shoulder. Then I started looking through the desk drawers and the filing cabinet.

I was rifling through a stack of papers when a light flashed right in front of me. My head snapped up to where Glenn was pointing a flashlight he had found on a shelf. He handed it over and I used it to shine inside the drawers and cabinets.

Glenn went to go stand guard near the door.

I had lost all hope of finding anything useful until I spotted another set of filing cabinets in a back corner. I snuck over to it and opened it, my breath catching.

Glenn must have heard, because he came rushing over, a look of fear on his face, like he thought I had found something terrible.

I looked up at him and I smiled widely at him, confusing him and instilling fear deeper within him. If I was smiling at him, I could only have something horrible planned for him, right? Well this was an exception.

I held up a handful of fireworks.

His eyes brightened and he opened his mouth in astonished wonder.

"Fuck yeah!" I whispered, dumping all of them into a cardboard box Glenn handed me.

Glenn lead the way back up to the top and I pushed the heavy box of fireworks ahead of me. When we got to the top, the sun was starting to set.

We would have to do this now, while it was dark and the walkers couldn't see. Or at least we were pretty sure they didn't have night vision. I shook my head and shoved the box into Rick's awaiting arms.

He smiled excitedly and said, "Glenn, I think we've found our distraction."

I stretched; the janitor's closet and the vents were a little too close quartered for my tastes.

Rick gathered the other 2 who were standing watch over the parking lot and that gold mine of a truck. Food, weapons, medical supplies, AND a kick-ass ride? This woman was a godsend.

"Glenn, you set off the fireworks and we'll wait for a few minutes before the walkers get distracted enough to get around the back and then we'll start climbing down the rope. The van is closer and Daryl's the best fighter, so Daryl, you go after the truck while-"

"Wait wait wait wait wait!" the girl piped up, holding up her hands and giving Rick a questioning expression. "I go with him."

"You're injured. You'll need to be on that ankle as little as possible."

She ignored him and reached into her jeans pocket, pulling out a keyring and dangling it beside her head. "I've got the keys and I don't trust anybody driving my baby. That truck doesn't go anywhere without me."

I shook my head. Sure I probably would've been the same way if some random people tried to swoop in and steal all my stuff, but she was limping something fierce. She would just be one more ass I had to cover.

I stood and walked over to the edge of the roof. "You best not slow me down," I warned her.

"I don't think that'll be a problem."

She didn't seem fazed by my icy response. She just brushed it off with her own.

I almost retorted, but I had nothing else to come back with, so I just started tying the rope as tight as I could around one of the thick pipes. I pulled as hard as I could and it didn't budge. I didn't throw the rope over yet in case any walkers happened to catch sight of it and get any ideas.

"When it gets dark, we make our run, everyone got that?" Rick said as everyone gathered back around him.

The sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky, making the Georgian air colder with each second. Glenn stood near the box of fireworks and held a match in his hand, ready for Rick's signal. After the last of the sun disappeared behind the shade of the horizon, Rick waved his hand downward like he was starting a race.

As the rest of us dropped to our bellys so the walkers wouldn't see us against the bright backdrop of explosions, Glenn struck the match and lit the single fuse he had crafted out of all of them. Then he held the box over the back of the roof and let it drop, running forward to slide on his stomach beside the row of us.

We waited for about 15 seconds before the first of the explosions started. It wasn't until the second of what we figured would be about 10 rounds of fireworks displays that we heard the walkers stumbling around and making excited noises. I, along with the others, chanced a quick peek over the edge of the roof. There were far less of them out in the parking lot. Only 4 or 5 now. Only 1 by the truck and 2 in between here and there.

I grabbed the rope and tossed it over the side, hoisting myself over the edge. I sunk down lower and lower until I could safely jump down. When my boots made a muffled thud on the grass, the two walkers looked up.

Behind me, I heard the girl, Keagan, drop down to the ground. She let out a sharp exhalation of breath, letting me know that the drop had hurt her ankle. But she seemed tough and didn't make any other noise.

I grabbed her wrist and started pulling her with me towards the truck. "Its unlocked, right?" I asked as I shot between the eyes of a walker with my crossbow.

"Yeah, its unlocked," she replied, running without a limp. Huh…

I yanked the arrow out of the walker's head without pause and cocked my crossbow again, getting read for the next walker.

But the girl was fast. She ran ahead of me, pulling her wrist out of my grasp and getting in the way of my shot. What the hell was she doing?

The walker beside the truck was oblivious for the moment and I had a clear shot, so I took it.

Keagan grabbed a crowbar from the blacktop and swung it hard into the side of the walker's head, growling fiercely. When it dropped, she shoved the forked end of it into the front of its skull. Then she ran toward the truck's drivers' side door.

I wanted to object, but we were running out of time. The fireworks were on their last round and most of the walkers were already growing bored of it. There were groups of them coming around the back of the building and spotting us. They seemed angry at being tricked and they sped up to a speed zombies shouldn't be allowed to reach as a general rule.

She hopped in, igniting the engine faster than I thought possible for a woman.

I jumped in just as she stepped on the gas. I slammed the door as she began backing up. She didn't look behind her as she whipped the truck around and sped off down the street. The van was behind us and Keagan didn't seem inclined to slow down, so they sped up and passed us, since they knew the way to camp and Keagan didn't.

"Wooohooo!" she yelled, gripping the steering wheel tight. "We made it!"

When she had calmed down the tiniest bit, she stared lustfully around at the inside of the interior of the truck. "Oh, baby, I missed you." She kissed the steering wheel dramatically and leaned back in her seat, not bothering to buckle her seat belt.

Great. Go into town to find Merle and end up escaping a walker-infested high school with a mad-woman driving the getaway vehicle.

Keagan looked over to where I was gaping at her. "What?" she asked, suddenly seeming self-conscious.

"Never seen a womun drive like 'at" was all I could get out.

She laughed. "Back in Texas there is a list of things everyone is required to know by the time they're 5. A few of those are drive, shoot, hold your own in a fight, and take your liquor like a man."

I was beginning to like this girl.

"Texas, huh?" I hadn't really meant to say it. It just kind of slipped. It had been bugging me since she first spoke. I had been wondering about that accent. Southern but obviously not from Georgia.

She nodded, smiling. She seemed to be getting sleepier by the minute. As the adrenaline wore off, it seemed she began to notice the pain in her ankle. "Ow! Shit." she grumbled as she eased on the brake.

"Ankle?" I asked. She nodded a little and grimaced. "Here, I'll drive."

She gave me a long hard look before hesitantly relenting. We swapped seats with the truck still in full motion.

It was like the second her butt hit the passenger's seat, she passed out.


	4. Always and Forever

KEAGAN'S POV:

I woke to the sound of a man saying my name repeatedly. He was also shaking my shoulder.

I smiled and grabbed onto his hand. "Bradley." I whispered. I pulled his hand and hugged him around his midsection, rubbing my face on his chest.

But something was off. He stiffened at my touch and it sounded like he was holding his breath. I opened my eyes and pulled back.

It wasn't Bradley I was looking at. It was Daryl Dixon.

The events of the past two months came rushing back to me in a cacophony of unwanted images. I closed my eyes against the memories and sighed. "I'm sorry," I said, opening my eyes.

He had a guarded look and he merely gave me one nod before turning to walk behind the truck. He left the passenger door open, so I guessed we were at their camp.

I jumped down, yawning hugely and trying to keep Bradley out of my head. _He's dead, quit thinking about him!_ I told myself. But my mind had other ideas.

Thankfully Rick began making introductions and that kept my mind occupied for a little bit of time at least. I got to met Rick's wife Lori and his adorable son Carl.

Then there were the blond sisters Andrea and Amy. I never really liked blondes much, but Amy seemed okay.

Then there was the Morales family.

Then Dale the old man who reminded me of my grandfather, and Jim who I figured used to be a mechanic by the navy blue jumpsuit he wore.

There was the Pelletier family. I liked Carol and Sophia, but Ed grated on my every nerve and I had the sneaking suspicion that he was abusing his family.

Then there was Jacqui who I thought was a relative of T-dog's, but they hadn't even known each other post-apocalypse.

Also there was Shane, Rick's friend, who I immediately disliked. I didn't make my assumptions of any of them blatantly obvious or anything, but I was almost sure I saw Shane give me an odd look when he thought my back was turned.

I noticed something almost immediately. Daryl tended to stay away from the rest of the group. Not quite far enough away to be an outsider, but not quite close enough to be on the inside.

After I was done being passed around for introductions, Dale noticed my limp.

"Something happen?" he asked, eyeing me worriedly.

"I think I twisted it. Had to avoid some walkers and stepped on it wrong."

"Well, come on. I think we have enough medical supplies here to treat that." Dale said, motioning me over to where a large RV was parked.

But his words reminded me of something I had almost forgotten.

"I think I have something you guys might like." I limped around to the back seat of my truck and opened the door, exposing them to the stockpiled cans of food.

They stared amazedly at the tons of food and Daryl let out a low whistle.

I laughed and motioned for them to take whatever they wanted. There was tons of Chef Boyardee. I love that stuff and I seriously loathed vegetables. But there were some of those, too.

The kids were especially excited in my choice. I handed them some cans and they took it over to where the rest of the adults were taking them.

There were some medical supplies in the floorboards of the back seat, so I grabbed those and handed them off to Dale who gratefully accepted them.

I went to the back of the truck and lifted the covering off the bed and lifted myself to stand on the bumper. I leaned down and grabbed the two shotguns and the ammo for them. I gave them to Shane and Rick and closed the back.

Then I spotted Daryl.

He looked up when he noticed me watching him.

I lifted a finger and motioned for him to come over.

He warily obliged.

"I've got something for you. To make up for that awkward situation earlier."

He started to say something, but I was persistent.

"Please. It'll make me feel better about it."

Finally he nodded.

I guided him back over to the passenger's side. I opened the door and slid in, letting my legs dangle out of the door. I popped open the glove compartment and pulled out two pocket knives.

One of them had been my brother's. Our father had given them to us. A matching set. My brother had given it to me just before I came into Georgia, saying I would need it in case anything happened. I didn't think he had a zombie apocalypse in mind when he said that.

I kept the one that had been my brother's and gave Daryl mine.

He flipped it open. On the blade, "Semper" was inscribed in fancy script. He eyed it curiously. "What's it mean?" he asked.

"Always. Its part of a matching set. That one was mine. This one was my brother's." I held up the one in my hand. "Aeternum. It means forever."

I flicked the knife open and pointed to the inscription.

He nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out.

When his mouth opened, I held up a hand. "Save it. That's me repaying you."

His brows drew together in confusion. "Fer what?"

I hopped down, shoving the knife in my pocket and shutting the door behind me. "Saving my life." I said, walking to where Dale was throwing a hissy fit over my ankle.


	5. Broken Bones and Broken Dreams

KEAGAN'S POV:

"Its broken," Dale announced, lightly prodding the swollen ankle I had propped up on the mattress in the back of the RV.

"What do you mean its broken?" I asked, sure I would've been in much more pain if it was broken.

"Exactly that. Its broken. The best thing we can do for it is wrap it up and keep you off of it." He grabbed a roll of medical tape and a roll of black gauze that reminded me of Styrofoam.

"That's it?" I asked, concerned for my ankle because of the terrible swelling and our lack of medical preparation.

"We don't have any ice to put on it to reduce the swelling. If it gets any more swollen, we will have to reset it. And we don't have any anesthetics."

I grimaced. "Great."

"After that, we'll have to splint it and you'll really need to take it easy."

I nodded. "I guess I can do that."

He nodded and started wrapping my ankle up. It was quite sore, but I could deal with it. I bit the inside of my cheek when Dale nudged my foot a little too hard when he was reaching around behind it to grab the rest of the tape.

When he was done wrapping it, he helped me lift myself up. I smiled gratefully at the old man and hobbled out of the RV with only one shoe on.

I walked over to my truck and opened the door, remembering something I couldn't believe I had forgotten. I snatched my backpack up out of the passengers seat floorboard and slung it across my back. Dale had told me I could stay in the RV until I had a tent of my own and that way he could keep an eye on my ankle. After I set my backpack on the bed in the back, I went looking for something to do. Maybe help with some laundry or something.

I spotted Lori walking down the hill with a basket full of clothes and caught up to her. "Hey, do you guys want some help?"

She smiled and said, "Yeah sure, that'd be great. Follow me."

I did as she said and when we got down to the water's edge, the other women were surrounding basket after basket of dirty clothes. I saw a basket that no one had enough hands to take care of and began scrubbing.

"So, Keagan, tell us about yourself," Carol said, scrubbing a stain viciously out of a blue and green striped shirt.

"Well, I'm from Texas."

"Thought so. Its that accent." Amy said, smiling at me.

"I never really thought I had one until I went out of state."

"So what brought you to Georgia?" Jacqui asked, looking up from a pair of jeans.

"My job. I worked for a music magazine kind of like the Rolling Stones magazine. There was supposed to be a Green Day concert in Atlanta a few days after the outbreak started. I was there for setup, doing interviews with the managers of the stadium, the crew, and the fans waiting outside the gates. Green Day is one of my favorite bands and this was my big break. I had been working in the office mainly, doing editing. I had been waiting to go and do my own work out in the field. Finally, my boss decided to let me go check out the Green Day concert and do a piece on it. A day or two before the concert, I had my first run-in with a group of walkers. My photographer was with me, but he… He didn't make it."

I was so lost in my recount of the week before the extinction of humanity and the ripped up pair of jeans in front of me that I hadn't noticed the depressed silence that had befallen our little group.

By the time anyone else spoke up, we had already pretty much finished the laundry.

I just had one more shirt to wash. The style of this shirt gave me a sense of recognition.

"I'm washing Daryl's clothes aren't I?" I asked Amy, eyeing a pair of boxers I had already washed.

She nodded.

Ew. Daryl was cool and all, but I wasn't sure I wanted to touch his underwear. Oh well. The deed was done.

When we were done, we walked to a line of wire that was strung around a few trees and hung the clothes up to dry.

Amy helped me hop the rest of the way back to camp.

Daryl was cleaning a few bolts for his crossbow outside his tent. He didn't look up as we passed by him.

I walked back inside the RV with the intent of changing into some clean clothes since I had been wearing the same articles of clothing for 3 days straight.

I was sweating like a pig in the Georgian summer heat, so I went with a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a black tank top. I pulled my long dark hair up and tied it back with a black hair tie. Deep in my backpack, I found a black and white bandana and thought '_What the hell?_' So I wrapped it around my head and tied it just under my ponytail.

While I had been feeling around in my backpack for one of the four sticks of beef jerky I had left, my hand stumbled across something that felt like paper. I pulled it out, curious. Before I looked at it, I set my backpack on the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed. I held my breath as I looked at the photograph of me and my photographer Bradley Winton.

We stood in front of a large stage with tons of people with headsets around their necks and clipboards in their hands walking around. It hurt to think that every one of those people were now dead. But they hadn't stayed that way. Even Bradley.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek and it fell onto the picture.

Bradley and I were both smiling hugely like dorks. We had been best friends since middle school and this was our dream. We both shared an intense love for Green Day and this was our big break.

My black hair was down, straight as a board and I was wearing a black and purple dress with a pair of black heels. Bradley wore a pair of jeans and a yellow T-shirt with a gray jacket over it. His green eyes twinkled out from the photograph and his dark hair was spiked up like usual.

That nerd had two fingers up behind my head, giving me bunny ears…. But I was doing the same to him.

I smiled through my tears.

"I made it, Bradley. I made it because I ran. Just like you told me to. I miss you, Bradley." I whispered to the photograph.

I don't just randomly talk to inanimate objects (most of the time), but maybe some foolish, naïve part of me was hoping that he would respond. When I realized he wouldn't, a round of hysterical sobs racked my body.

I fell back onto the bed and set the picture on the pillow beside me, my vision swimming with tears. I thought back to all of the great times Bradley and I had together before the epidemic.

Before long, I fell into a dream about the day I lost my best friend.


	6. Bradley

"Keagan?" I heard a man whisper. He shook my shoulder and I smiled, leaving my eyes closed.

"Yes?"

He laughed and I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, "Come on, get up, we've gotta get that interview with the fans done."

I groaned and rolled over to face him. He, too, was still laying in the hotel bed, shirt off and hair a mess. I smiled up at him. "Cant we just stay here?"

He looked like he really wanted to say yes.

Last night had been an amazing one. Bradley had had feelings for me for years. Possibly the entirety of our friendship, but up until recently I hadn't found myself sharing those feelings. About a month ago, I realized how much I really did care for him as more than just a friend. In that short month since we had gotten together, I fell for him, though he claimed he loved me more. Last night had been an expression of that love and one I was sure neither of us would forget.

"We really should get going soon."

I nodded, knowing full well he was right, but wanting so terribly to deny it. I pecked him on the cheek and ran to claim the shower first. After I was all washed and my hair and makeup was done, I ventured out of the bathroom and slowly ate a bowl of cereal as Bradley took his shower.

He came out on a cloud of steam, rubbing a towel on the back of his wet head. He had a pair of jeans on, but no shirt.

I stood, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his thin, toned stomach. He leaned down and kissed me, getting my forehead wet with the front of his hair.

"Come on, lets get going," I said, going to sit down and pull on a pair of flats. Those damn heels were hell to walk in.

In about 5 minutes, we were ready and walking out to my car parked on the curb outside the Atlanta hotel.

Just before I hopped in, I noticed two policemen down the street trying to hold back a guy who looked like he was going crazy. I cocked an eyebrow at them. People were stupid.

I hopped in the car and we sped off in the direction of the stadium.

I pulled out my camera and took a few pictures of the scenery outside my window and snapped one of Bradley.

"Hey!" he said, playfully pouting.

I snickered and took another. He just laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling it to his lips.

We were on a practically deserted road out in the middle of nowhere when Bradley's terrified shout caught my attention. I looked out the windshield and saw a person's body just laying there in a pool of blood. It was crumpled in an uncomfortable-looking position.

"Call 911," Bradley instructed, getting out of the car and walking to the body.

I pulled out my phone with shaky fingers and dialed 911. Nobody picked up.

Bradley screamed. I looked up and saw him hunched over the body, but it was alive. It was biting his neck.

"Bradley!" I yelled. I got out of the car.

The body looked like it had been dead for years. But that's not possible.

Bradley kicked out of the things grasp and backed away quickly. But not quickly enough. The thing was on him again, tearing at him with its teeth.

"Keagan! Run! Go!"

I stayed rooted in place, shocked senseless. What in the hell was happening?

Finally, some of the numbness faded from my mind and I pulled my pocket knife out of my pocket. I opened it and ran forward. By the time the thing looked up, my hand was driving the point of the blade through the back of the base of its head. I stabbed it in the same place repeatedly until I was completely sure it was dead.

When I looked up, tears were streaming down my face and Bradley was getting paler at an alarming rate. There were several bite marks on his neck that were seeping blood. He would die soon if I didn't do something. But I didn't know what to do.

"Leave me here. Run."

The way his words gurgled made my sobs grow. "Bradley I cant!" I cried.

He grabbed at my hand and lifted it to his bloodied lips one last time. "I love you, Keagan." Putting all of his effort into saying those 4 words as normally and un-gurgly as he could took the rest of the life out of him.

I gripped his limp hand with a force that he would have complained about normally. But this time, he remained silent. That was the way he would stay forever. Or at least that's what I thought then.


	7. A Beacon of Hope

I woke in a cold sweat. My breath came in quick, short gasps.

I looked around the inside of the old RV and remembered everything that happened, shedding a few tears when I realized it hadn't all just been a had really happened. Bradley was gone.

It was hot inside the RV and I was sticky with sweat, so I hopped off of the bed and wandered outside. The night air was cool and felt good against my overheated skin. Normally I would be freezing in weather like this, but it had been so damn stuffy in that RV…

I crossed my arms and walked over to a point just beside the tree-line that overlooked the lake. The moonlight stared back at me from the water's surface, glinting like a brilliant white orb in the midst of black poison. A beacon of hope in the middle of hell.

I scoffed at the silliness of my comparisons and began walking down to the water's edge.

I sat on a stump that used to be a tree. Its life had been cut to just a stump, the base of its life. No longer the leafy, beautiful life-sustaining thing it once was. Just like every walker in Atlanta right now. They had once been full of life and vigor and _feelings_! Now they were just a composition of core motor skills, primal instincts, and fundamental thought process.

I shook my head. Why was I being so dramatically emotional tonight?

Watching the flat, glassy surface of the water, I thought about Bradley and allowed myself a few more tears.

I remembered back to the night of our high school prom. We had just been best friends who everybody thought were gonna get together (guess they were eventually right, but at the time we claimed it was ridiculous), but we made a promise that if we didn't have dates by the time prom came around, we'd go together.

I smiled as I remembered the way we both looked so awkward in formal wear. We had both been pretty bad kids. Smart, good grades and all that jazz, but we were rebels. We tugged at the edges of our dressy clothes and scratched at the nice way we wore our hair instead of the messy 'do's we usually sported.

I remembered one particular dance we shared. Neither of us were much for dancing, so it was more like awkwardly shifting from one side to the other in time with the music. The song that played was Here Without You by 3 Doors Down.

I remember getting tired of watching the faces of all the snotty, pink-covered kids watching me and Bradley shuffle around the dance floor. The fact that I had worn a black dress to prom seem to personally offend them, which I found endlessly amusing.

I closed my eyes to shut out their sneers and snide comments and leaned my head on Bradley's chest, listening to the music and forgetting everything else. He leaned down and began whispering the song to me, somehow singing in a whisper. He had a lovely voice that I could've listened to all night, but unfortunately, the song had to end at some point.

Bradley walked me to the doorstep that night and pecked me on the cheek, earning a blush and some confused thoughts. Did Bradley like me? Was that what he was trying to communicate through the cliché end of prom night? How did I feel about that?

I breathed a deep sigh, pulling my thoughts back to present day post-apocalyptic hell.

The tears flowed more evenly now.

I started singing the song from that night at prom, the words bearing a whole new meaning now. "I'm here without you baby, but you're still on my lonely mind. I think about you baby, and I dream about you all the time. I'm here without you baby, but you're still with me in my dreams. And tonight its only you and me."

I stared dejectedly at the black water in front of me as my words began coming out choked by my tears. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and leaned my head down.

A twig in the trees nearby snapped.

I jumped up and whirled around, my heart racing.

Damn it! Why was I such a dumbass? You don't go off by yourself _without a weapon_ when there are zombies running around!

I heard another break and another, they were getting closer. The leaves rustled, but what stepped out was not the walker I was expecting.

It was Daryl. He had his crossbow hanging from his right hand, his left rested lightly on the handle.

I wiped a hand hastily over my face, willing the tears to dry up right then.

After an uncomfortable silence, he nodded at me, as if asking if I was okay.

I nodded back, trying to smile reassuringly, but when more tears threatened, it transformed into almost a grimace… exactly like the last blood-coated smile Bradley had given to me.

My knees buckled under me and I started falling.

"Whoa!" Daryl called softly, running forward and catching me before I could hit the ground. He set his crossbow down beside him and rested his knees on the ground.

I grabbed onto his shirt and sobbed into his chest, taking comfort in the fact that he hadn't pulled away. He seemed like the type that avoided physical contact. He seemed like he wanted to pull away. But he also seemed like he knew I needed this. He hesitantly put his arms around my shoulders and settled onto the ground, holding me steady as I cried my fears, worries, and regrets out onto his sweaty, blood-smeared button-up.

I knew I would berate myself for this later; as a general rule, I don't go around sobbing in the arms of random hillbillies. But right now, I didn't have the sense to get up and apologize for my weird behavior.

When my crying had calmed some, he asked, somewhat nervously, "Who's Bradley?"

I held my breath for a moment, not wanting to explain, but knowing I should give some reason for my emotional breakdown on his chest. "He was my best friend, co-worker, and boyfriend. He was my best friend since we were kids. I loved him. But I lost him."

In a way it felt good to have that off my chest, but in a way, it made me feel like crying again. No. I would not cry anymore. I had cried enough tonight.

I pulled myself together, soaking up the tears pricking at the edges of my eyes, and got out of the tangle of Daryl's arms.

"I'm sorry about that," I stood and rubbed my arm awkwardly.

He stood, too, glaring at the ground. "S'alright. Next time, don't go off on yer own." All gentleness from before evaporated as Daryl turned back into the wild, feral hunter he usually was. He turned and stalked off into the trees.

As the warmth of his arms burned and lingered like a memory on my shoulders and then faded into nothingness, I got colder and made my way back up to camp.


	8. It Felt Nice

DARYL'S POV:

I trudged around the perimeter of the camp, scouting for walkers. There had been none all night and I hadn't heard a noise all night.

Until I heard singing. I knew it wasn't a walker; they could singing. It was a song I recognized. "I'm here without you baby, but you're still with me in my dreams. And tonight its only you and me." A sob interrupted the singing voice.

I was close to the water by now.

It must've been one of the campers. I thought I knew that voice, but I wasn't sure, so I snuck closer, trying to get a glimpse of them between the boughs of the trees.

I was normally completely silent when going through the woods, but just at that second, I was distracted by the sight of someone's back sitting on a stump. It wasn't immediately recognizable, but when my foot came crashing down on a particularly loud twig and the figure jumped and spun around, I mentally kicked myself for not realizing who it was earlier.

It was the girl. Keagan. She looked terrified and there were tear stains running the length of her face.

I sighed and began walking further out of the cover of the trees. When she caught sight of my face, she relaxed slightly.

There was a pause of awkward silence before I nodded questioningly to her, silently asking if she was alright.

She nodded back, trying to smile reassuringly, but her face contorted and it looked like she was going to cry again. Her legs wobbled and she pitched forward.

"Whoa!" I said, catching her in my arms and dropping my crossbow to the ground. I felt her latch onto my shirt and she buried her face in my chest, sobs shaking her frame.

I scowled, looking to the side. Why did girls choose me to cry on? It happened more often than you would think. Oh well. She needed to cry? She may as well get it out of her system.

I slowly lifted my arms and held her shoulders, giving her something that resembled a hug. She was freezing cold. That was the main thing to be said for the female population. They were all cold.

This situation reminded me of the reversed version we experienced earlier this morning. In a flash of bright lights, the memory replayed. She had called me something… Bradley.

I almost didn't want to ask. That was probably what she had been crying about. But curiosity won out over decency.

"Who's Bradley?"

She stopped breathing for a second and then let it out. "He was my best friend, co-worker, and boyfriend. He was my best friend since we were kids. I loved him. But I lost him." She sounded completely broken, her voice cracking under the pressure of her memories.

Out of nowhere, she pulled herself together and stood up, sniffling and wiping the remaining tears from her face. "I'm sorry about that," she rubbed her arm where I could see goosebumps raising.

I got to my feet and fixed a cold stare at the gravel between our feet. "S'alright. Next time, don't go off on yer own."

In the blink of an eye, my defensive, mean as hell cover was up. I forgot all about the fact that just a second ago I had been letting her cry all over me and turned, striding back into the forest. When I was far enough in the woods that she wouldn't hear me, I kicked a tree with an aggravated grunt.

Damn girl. She made me feel something when I had put my arms around her. Something I wasn't sure I had ever felt. Something I wasn't sure I wanted to feel. It had felt nice. Foreign, but nice.

But I was Daryl Dixon. I didn't feel things that could be described as "nice". Hell nothing about me was nice as far as this group of ingrates was concerned. Sure I was a little more compassionate than my older brother, but I had a hell of a temper. One even Merle had known not to push too much. No aspect of my being could even closely be described as nice.

But, in just a few seconds, that girl who I had just met a little over 24 hours ago changed that. I had been nice. And it had felt nice. This wasn't like me at all. It scared me more than I cared to admit.

I put all thoughts of her out of my head and continued to scout the perimeter, hoping that Dale hadn't been creeping on us from his perch atop the RV.


	9. She Can Change Him

DALE'S POV:

The night was still, the soft wind the only motivation for the leaves to rustle. I inhaled deeply and let it out slowly.

I heard a creak from the RV door and turned to see Keagan stepping shakily out of the RV. She must've had a bad dream.

I turned to stare up at the moon. The only constant thing in our rapidly changing world. I lifted my binoculars to my face and kept watching the trees for any signs of walkers. When there were none, I turned back around and saw Keagan making her way down to the water.

I frowned. She should know better than to o off on her own. It was a good thing I was on watch and noticed she was leaving. I watched all around her, ready to take aim and shoot if there were any walkers near her.

Then I saw her put her head in her hands. She started singing. She had a beautiful voice and it carried softly. I smiled, but it felt bittersweet. She had lost someone, of that I was sure. This song only seemed to prove my assumption right. "I'm here without you baby, but you're still with me in my dreams." I couldn't hear the rest of the song, she must've been singing quite a bit softer.

I could tell she was crying, though. Her shoulders shook violently and she shook her head back and forth like she wanted this all to be a dream.

That was how we all felt. Each and every one of us wished we could lay down at night and when we woke up, we would be right back where we started the morning everything went to hell. Only this time, it would go normally. Even if our lives had been boring, or crazy, or unsuccessful, we all wished things would go back to the way things were.

I saw her jump from her seat on a stump and whirl around to face the trees. The poor girl. I could see the tears on her face from here.

Then I saw the brush move as though someone was moving around in there. I pulled my rifle up and looked down the scope, getting ready to fire if necessary.

But Daryl stepped out of the tree-line, not a walker. He gave her a nod which she returned. They stood completely still for a few moments until Keagan began falling forward.

Daryl dropped his crossbow and rushed forward, snatching her up before she could make contact with the ground. She lifted and hand and grabbed onto his shirt, crying into his chest.

I wanted to be surprised, but I couldn't. There seemed to be some kind of unspoken (and thus far unknown to the two of them) bond between them. Everybody knew Daryl was liable to explode at the slightest thing and wasn't the kind to go around giving out hugs or anything. Keagan, however, was a little more discrete about how enraged she could become or how sarcastic she could be. She seemed to have a way with him that had him completely flustered. He didn't know how to deal with her, how to speak to her, how to act around her. Maybe I was the only one that saw the abnormally shy act they both got around each other, but it was there.

So this didn't surprise me. But what did was the fact that Daryl actually held her. He seemed to be second-guessing himself when he shyly put his arms around her. I smiled. She could change him. She would change him. I'm old, I know these things.

They seemed to talk for a few minutes before Keagan stood abruptly and without warning. She rubbed her arm sheepishly and seemed to be apologizing.

He stood up, avoiding eye contact and said something to her before taking off back into the woods where he promptly kicked a tree. I chuckled and sighed under my breath. _Kids._

When I noticed Keagan making her way back up to camp, I turned, trying to make it less obvious that I had caught her's and Daryl's moment of tenderness.


	10. Ankle Pains

KEAGAN'S POV:

I went back to sleep surprisingly easily. I had no more nightmares, not even a dream. But when I woke up, I had a crick in my neck and my ankle ached terribly.

I sat in the bed for a few minutes after I woke up before Dale came in, asking about my ankle.

"How's it doing?" he asked, bending down to get a better look at it.

"It hurts. Not as much as it did yesterday, but that's not saying much." I told him, grimacing as he poked at it once more.

"I'll have to take the wrappings off to get a better look at it." He looked to me as if asking for permission.

I nodded. Better safe than sorry. But when he took it off, I almost wished he hadn't.

The swelling had increased rapidly and grotesquely. My ankle was about 3 times its normal size.

Dale's quick intake of breath alerted me to the dangerous condition of my ankle.

"We're going to have to reset it," he said, already looking apologetic.

This was going to hurt. A lot. We had no anesthetics and nobody certified to do this. It would be guesswork and if we messed up, we would just have to start all over, putting me in even more pain. I silently cursed and sighed.

"I'll be right back," Dale said, nodding to me and exiting the RV.

I turned my head to look out the window and saw Dale walk up to Daryl. He looked like he was asking him something. Daryl disappeared inside his tent and when he came back out, he handed Dale a pill bottle and a bottle with some brown liquid in it. Whiskey. My outlook on life at this point in time went up a little. Dale motioned for Daryl to come with him and Daryl hesitated a little before consenting.

I closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself for the pain. I heard their footsteps thud all the way back to the bed I was laying in.

"Ya look like hell," I heard Daryl mutter as he moved to stand behind me.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him, his face upside down. "So do you," I said, smiling sweetly.

He scowled and grabbed onto the sides of the bed. "So what'd ya need me fer?" Daryl asked Dale, seeming a bit annoyed.

"I need you to hold her down. This wont work if she's thrashing around." Dale handed me the bottle of whiskey.

I took a long gulp out of the half empty bottle.

I started to hand Daryl the whiskey bottle, but he pushed it back into my hands. "Might need to take one more. Jus' in case."

I nodded and took another big swig. After I had handed Daryl his booze, he handed me something. I looked into my hand and saw abrown leather belt. I nodded and folded it, placing it between my teeth. I held my arms up and grabbed onto Daryl's upper arms and he held onto mine. I closed my eyes as I felt Dale's hands close around my foot. I bit down on the belt and gripped Daryl's arms tighter, my fingers digging into his skin.

The last thought I remember crossing my mind before the pain started was _"Wow, Daryl must work out."_

I screamed around the belt, trying to keep myself still. Daryl held my arms a little tighter, so I guessed my efforts at keeping still had failed a little.

The pain in my ankle was tremendous. It was on fire, it was frozen, it was terrible, it was wonderful, it was so many things that didn't make sense all at the same time. But mostly it hurt. It felt like years that Dale had to push my foot back onto the end of my leg, willing my ankle's bones to mend themselves in the right place. The whiskey should have worked but, what I had said about drinking in Texas was true. I had been drinking since I was a teenager. So the liquor didn't have much of an effect on me. I had built up kind of an immunity.

I opened my eyes and saw the tiniest bit of a glimmer in the corner of my eyes, the beginnings of tears. I didn't cry, though. I couldn't stand watching Dale shove at my foot, so I looked up, focusing my eyes on Daryl. He looked down, focusing intensely on my eyes.

I screamed again, louder this time. My screams continued echoing in my ears for quite a while after I had passed out from the shock of the burning pain.

DARYL'S POV:

The first of her screams was quieter than I would've thought. More of a grunt than an actual scream. But I knew the pain must have been insane.

I felt her hands tighten around my arms. I did the same to hers, trying to keep her from moving too much. She opened her eyes and looked at Dale. I frowned. That probably wouldn't help her keep from moving around.

Then she looked up and straight into my eyes. I held her attention there. We had a stare-down for a few minutes before she screamed her lungs out. By the end of the long, piercing scream, it had turned raspy and eventually died out when her eyes closed and she went limp.

"What's goin' on? What happened?" I asked, looking at Dale and panicking.

"She passed out from the shock or the pain. I'm done now. She'll be fine. She just needs to stay off of it for a while." He started rewrapping her ankle and then exited the RV, telling me to watch her while he went to go do something or another.

I wanted to say no, do it yourself you stupid old man. But I didn't have it in me. I had been awake for 3 days straight and it felt good to not be constantly moving around.

I sat on the edge of her bed, careful not to jostle her. I looked her up and down. She was attractive, sure. She was kind of short and pretty thin, with medium length black hair. She had full, red lips and a splay of freckles across the bridge of her nose. I remembered looking down into her pained eyes… they had been almost brown, but too green to be brown.

Her limbs were flung akimbo and her hair was sticking to her sweaty forehead.

Shane and Dale came back in the RV then. I stood up, moving out of the way. This RV hadn't been made for this many people to be back here at once.

Shane was carrying 2 pieces of a wooden board that had been cut to about the size of her foot. They placed each piece of board on either side of her foot, taping it tight in a diagonal position so it reached her ankle, too.

After it had been taped tight to her ankle, Shane looked up and seemed to just notice me. "What are you still doing here, Dixon?" he asked, sneering at me.

I grimaced and decided not to get into it here with him while Keagan was laying injured on the bed right beside us. "Shut the fuck up," I told him, walking out of the RV. Stupid prick.

KEAGAN'S POV:

I wasn't sure how long I had been out, but when I woke up, no one was in the RV and Glenn was nowhere at all.

"Hey, Dale?" I called to the old man sitting atop the RV, looking out with binoculars.

He looked down.

"Where's Glenn?" Glenn and I had become fast friends in the short time since I had arrived at the camp.

"He made a run into a small town up the road from here."

I knew Glenn was the guy everyone went to when they wanted something from the city, but I still feared he wouldn't make it back. But that fear was foolish as I realized when, less than an hour later, Glenn came sauntering, care-free up the dirt road to the camp.

I limped forward and hugged him, avoiding the large, bulky-looking thing he was carrying with him.

"Don't scare me like that," I muttered sternly as I pulled back.

"I was only gone for an hour. And besides, nothing could have actually happened. I'm a ninja!"

I laughed, stepping back so he could show me what he had behind him. It was large and black and looked like a tarp with some thin poles.

"I got you a tent!" Glenn announced, obviously pleased with himself.

I smiled widely at him. "Thanks, Glenn."

He nodded and began helping me pitch the damn thing. It was pretty difficult, but eventually we got it to stand the way it was supposed to.

I was kind of excited for that night. I finally had my own tent and could stop mooching off Dale and sleeping in his RV.

But the entire time Glenn and I were goofing off and trying to make the tent quit leaning one way, I had one question on my mind: What on earth had I done to make Daryl want to glare unyieldingly at me from across camp?


	11. Tearing Down Walls

DARYL'S POV:

Damn girl. I cursed her silently for making me care. If that's what this was. Did I care? I didn't know but I didn't want to think about it too much.

I glared coldly at her, pitching her stupid tent with stupid Glenn and his stupid face.

I had freaked out when she had passed out almost an hour ago. I had been concerned. Why was I so protective of her?

Was it that "moment" out by the lake. No. I wouldn't think of it as a "moment". That made me sound like a chick. It was just a discussion. Well, there hadn't been much talking, so I guess it couldn't really be called that, either. It was more of what my dumb, cheating whore of an ex-girlfriend would call a "snuggle-fest".

Damn women. They had to make anything men liked sound stupid.

Not that I would ever admit that I had liked holding Keagan in my arms while she cried her eyes out on my chest. But I had.

I did care.

Damn it.

KEAGAN'S POV:

"God I miss my iPod!" I groaned as Glenn handed me a Styrofoam plate with chef Boyardee ravioli on it. I scarfed the hot food down, not caring that it burned my throat intensely. It had been days since I had eaten anything. I hadn't had time to stop and eat and even less time to stop and cook.

Glenn chuckled and ate his food, taking his sweet time. "What did you do before all this anyway?" Glenn asked.

We were friends and all, but we didn't know much about each other before all this. Just all of the new stuff.

"I worked for a music magazine back in Texas." I remembered the old office with all the annoying guys who thought it was a requirement to stand and make idle chatter beside the water jug in the hall. Bradley and I had a nickname for those 4 guys. The Tools. Not because they were actually tools (thought they were) but because both Bradley and I hated the guts of that band. Tool was by all rights the worst band either of us had heard, as we agreed in about the 7th grade. Bradley. I sighed and looked down at my empty plate.

Glenn didn't notice my lapse in conversational skills and continued chattering with the others sitting around the fire.

I looked up and spotted Daryl. He wasn't glaring at me anymore, but he was giving me a curious, intent look. Like he was trying to figure me out. I expected him to look away as soon as I caught him, but he persisted.

I blushed and looked away. Hadn't he ever heard it was rude to stare at people? I was angry at him for being so bipolar. Earlier he had been all happy and friendly, then a few hours ago, he had stared at me like I was the one thing in the world he hated most. Now he was watching me like a hawk? What the hell?

I set my plate in my chair and gave everyone a hasty goodnight and retreated into my tent.

My stomach felt a little weird and I couldn't really sleep, so I just laid on my back watching the tent ceiling and listening to the conversations outside. One by one, everyone drifted off, going to their own tents. When I was sure everyone had left, I peeked out of the tent and saw no one. The fire had been put out and even Dale was gone from sight.

Someone was on watch, I knew it. I just didn't know who it was.

I sat in one of the lawn chairs around the pile of burnt wood that used to be a fire.

I leaned my head back and watched the stars. They twinkled a bright white color in the darkest blue the world had ever known. It was like putting a black sheet of construction paper up to a lamp and poking holes in it with a pencil.

I thought about our current predicament. Zombies all around us. Wanting to eat us. Getting closer and closer to succeeding.

I frowned and focused on the stars, trying to clear my mind. It actually worked.

Which is why I don't remember falling asleep out in the open in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

DARYL'S POV:

Shane came to relieve me from watch that night at around midnight. Normally I wouldn't have let him take over; didn't trust him as far as I could throw him. But I hadn't gotten sleep in so long I didn't care anymore. I grudgingly let him take over and began making my way through the brush back toward the camp.

When I stepped out into the open clearing of the camp, I saw Keagan sitting in one of the lawn chairs, her head leaned back and her eyes closed. Damn girl.

I scowled and slung my crossbow over my shoulder. Then I walked forward and awkwardly tried to figure out how to pick her up. I settled with carrying her bridal style.

When I got her up, she seemed to understand that someone was holding her. She gave the kind of whimper you might hear from a scared child and clung tight to my shirt. For a minute, I thought she was awake.

But when I looked down, I saw her face unlined and smooth, without worry or pain, it was the epitome of innocence. Beauty in its rawest form. God showing off his most amazing creation. Normally I wouldn't allow myself these kinds of thoughts, but now, with no one around, I didn't care. I could be as romantic and poetic as I wanted.

I stared down at her face, my eyes softening with each second. This girl was tearing down every wall I had one by one.

I sighed and started walking to her tent. I kicked the flap open and walked inside. Her backpack was set in a corner to the right and there was a thick sleeping bag on the ground. I put my crossbow on the ground.

The sleeping bag was unzipped and laying open, so I just slid her down into the sleeping bag, kneeling over her so I could make sure I got all of her in the sleeping bag. After I had her in the sleeping bag, I lingered for a moment, just watching her face as she dreamt. I wondered what she might dream about, what her hopes were, what she wanted out of life other than to survive.

It was a moment of weakness I shouldn't have shown. I leaned down and planted a kiss softly on her forehead.

When I started to stand back up and go to my tent, her arms wrapped around my neck. I looked down at her, frowning. Was she sleep-hugging? But when I looked down, her eyes were open.

"Daryl?" she asked, her arms still around my neck.

"Ya fell 'sleep outside," I pathetically tried to explain what I was doing in her tent, but she didn't seem interested in excuses.

She shook her head and tightened her grasp on my neck when I tried to pull back and leave the tent. "Don't leave me here alone." She sounded so small and scared.

I looked back to her, for a moment completely caught off guard. She sat up and bit her lip, looking to the side.

I wanted so badly to stay here with her, but I knew I shouldn't.

"Please?" she whispered.

I started to argue, but then I realized I would have fallen asleep in a few minutes anyway, might as well do it here and not outside on the way to my tent. But that was just the excuse I gave myself.

I nodded and laid down where she indicated right next to her. She put one of her arms over my side and rested one over my chest… right where my heart was. I laid completely still, stiff as a board, and as uncomfortable as if I were laying on one. Then she grabbed my hand and pulled it behind her, making my arm rest over her side. We were basically hugging on our sides. I pulled her closer, finally relaxing.

Her breathing became a little more deep and soon I could tell she was asleep. My hands held her tight and my heart raced.

This girl was tearing down every wall I had one by one. And maybe, just maybe, I could deal with it.


	12. Regret

KEAGAN'S POV:

I woke up confused and freaked out. There was an arm over my waist and a body behind me. What scared me most was the fact that my fingers were laced through the hand of the arm around me.

Who the hell was laying beside me?

I thought back to last night. I fell asleep outside by the fire, I knew that much. I barely remembered through a thick, sleepy haze, Daryl putting me in my tent and me asking him to stay.

Daryl? What the fuck! I was still mad at him for all the crazy changes in attitude towards me yesterday!

I jerked upright.

He snorted, waking up. "What?" He sat up and looked around groggily.

I had to admit, he looked kind of cute when he was half-asleep. Wait, what? No! I shook my head.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?" I asked, knowing full well that I had asked him to stay, but still. He should have said no.

He narrowed his sleep-glazed eyes at me. "If I 'member correctly, you asked me to stay."

I scoffed. "I was half-asleep. If I had been drunk and asked you to… you know! Would you?"

He stared at me like I had gone crazy. And maybe I had. But I didn't care. "'Course not!"

I knew what I had to do to make him leave, and I knew it was below the belt, but I was still partially asleep and my better judgment was evading me.

"Do you really think that if I had been awake I would have asked you to stay?" I couldn't look at him when I asked. I knew he would be absolutely livid.

Sure enough, his angry, sharp exhalation of breath tipped me off to his temper. He stood, grabbing his crossbow off the ground and starting to storm out. "Stupid bitch," he muttered loudly as he exited the tent.

I felt tears pricking at the edges of my eyes and forced them down. I laid back down on the sleeping bag.

It wasn't that I hadn't liked having Daryl there with me last night, it just felt like a betrayal to Bradley. Even though I knew he wasn't here anymore, I had a hard time letting go.

I knew I would have hell to pay when I woke up again, but I didn't have the energy to care right now. So I closed my eyes and went to sleep again, thinking about how warm the tent had been when Daryl had been here.

oO0Oo

I was up again at first light. I stood up and stretched, walking slowly out of my tent, fearing the expression I was sure I would see on Daryl's face when I stepped out. But when I stepped out into the light, there were several people missing. Carol and Sophia were stepping on eggshells around Ed as usual and Jacqui, Amy, and Lori were gathered around the fire, boiling water. Dale was perched atop the RV as usual and Shane was shouting something up to him.

There was something amiss here. Not just the several missing camp members. He large, white van that had been parked just in front of Dale's RV was now missing. What the hell? Where had everyone gone?

As soon as Shane walked away from the RV, I walked over and climbed the ladder to the top.

"Dale? Where is everyone?" I asked, looking out in the direction he was pointing his binoculars.

"They went into Atlanta," he answered simply.

It took a minute for the shock to get through to my numb mind.

"What? What do you mean they're in Atlanta? Don't they realize how dangerous that is? The city is infested! What would they want to go there for?"

Dale turned to me with a curious expression. "You haven't heard about Daryl's brother have you?"

Brother?

"I didn't even know he had one." I answered, sitting cross-legged beside his lawn chair.

Dale nodded. "Merle. He went with a group of other into Atlanta a little while back. This was when the group met Rick. They were trapped on the roof of a department store. Merle was going crazy, wasting bullets in walkers down in the street crowded around the doors. He was on drugs. When Rick got there, he handcuffed Merle to a pipe to keep him settled down. T-dog had the key and when their plan's escape time-frame came around, they all ran. T-dog turned back to unlock Merle's cuffs, but he dropped the key down a drain. As far as we know, Merle is still up on that roof."

"And Daryl wants to go and get him back." I said, nodding as I thought of my words from earlier. How could I have been so terrible to him after he had just lost his brother?

Dale nodded. "They went into the city a few days ago and got trapped in the high school where they found you. Daryl woke up this morning causing all kinds of mayhem. He was kicking everything over, raising hell, screaming about something I couldn't understand. He told Rick, Glenn, and T-dog that it was time to go back into Atlanta. They were all too willing to go; they feel partially responsible for what happened to him."

I closed my eyes and leaned my head down. I had a feeling Dale knew about Daryl being in my tent last night, but he didn't say anything.

After a few minutes of silence, I stood from my seat and started climbing down the ladder on the side of the RV. I saw that there wasn't really anything around camp to do, so I went and sat in my tent, staring hopelessly at the photo of me and Bradley.

I had screwed everything up. It was impossible to deny that there was something odd between Daryl and I. Some kind of friendship that couldn't quite be described. But I had probably just screwed that all up.

And if he died in Atlanta… It kind of hurt to think that he might not be coming back… But I didn't want that to be the last time I saw him. Not like that.

My chest hurt a little, so I tucked the picture back inside my backpack and walked out of the tent, determined to find something useful to do while I waited for Daryl to come back. There was no "if" about it. He would come back. And when he did, I would be ready to apologize.

DARYL'S POV:

Shit. All that was left of my brother was his hand, some stupid spics had Glenn, and they wanted to trade us for our guns. And of course, Deputy do-good was planning on rolling over and making the trade.

"No. We aren't giving them the guns. But we are getting Glenn back." Rick said.

"What?" I asked, incredulous. "They already said they want th' guns. That's th' only way we're getting short round back."

Rick shook his head, a gleam in his eye. Oh hell.

oO0Oo

"What the hell?" I asked, eyeing "Satan's dogs". They were three little Chihuahuas.

Rick pulled G aside, talking to him about this old-folks' home.

We had come up to the garage (or what I had nicknamed the taco shack) locked and loaded, ready to shoot the place up and get Glenn, no matter how badly outnumbered we were. But a little old lady had come in, screeching something about a man with asthma. Turns out these "thugs" were running a nursing home.

T-dog and I gave Glenn hell for making us come all this way, just to pick his sorry ass up from a nursing home.

After about 12 minutes of discussion, we were running back up the road to where we had left the van. We had left almost half the guns and I was a little bitter about that, but who wouldn't be?

"Uh oh." Glenn muttered as we neared the spot where we had left the van.

I lifted my head. The van was gone. Oh damn.


	13. That Was For Coming Back

DARYL'S POV:

We were almost at the camp now. Just a few more minutes of running up the trail. My sides were aching and I was pushing down on the rasp that threatened to show itself in my deep breaths.

Then we heard a scream. It was a girl's voice and I hoped it wasn't Keagan for reasons I couldn't describe. She had hurt me with that comment earlier, though I hadn't showed the hurt, only the anger. In the spurt of rage, I made a decision on impulse and dragged Glenn, T-dog, and Rick off to Atlanta, hoping to get away from her. I was still pretty ticked about it, but I was honestly a little freaked out at the idea that it might be Keagan screaming her guts out right now.

The four of us glanced around at each other, then took off faster than before toward the camp. We ran through trees and bushes and finally emerged into the campsite, walkers limping about, moaning and eating.

I took my shotgun out and started shooting, then using the butt to knock more down. I glanced up and saw a walker stumbling toward a girl who was backed up against the RV. She didn't do anything. She just stood, trying to feel around for anything she could use as a weapon, but there wasn't anything.

I ran forward, hitting the walker in the back of the head and shooting it for good measure. Then I turned to the girl. It was Keagan.

I hesitated a second before offering my hand. She grabbed it and pulled herself up.

We stood there, ignoring the carnage around us and just standing in a moment of silence.

Eventually she punched my arm harder than I thought she was capable of. "That was for leaving!" she said, glaring at me.

Then her glare softened. She reached forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, hugging me tight. When she pulled away, she started to run back to the RV where the rest of the campers were retreating.

"What was that for?" I asked.

She half-smiled. "That was for coming back."

I would have gone after her and made sure she was safe, but just at that moment, a walker came shuffling up to me, hoping for more food. But all he got was a bullet to the head.

KEAGAN'S POV:

Seeing Daryl and knowing he was alive had made the feeling I had since Amy had gotten bit change from empty, desolate, and cold to safe and maybe even a little happy.

I rushed over to the rest of the unarmed in our group. Mostly women and children.

"Get in the RV!" I yelled at them over the sound of gunfire.

They started piling in, children first, mothers next, then me and Jacqui. Andrea was still crouched by her sister. But she was taken care of, the guys could hold the few remaining walkers off of her. Everybody squished in the small space and waited until the sounds of gunshots and the grunts of the guys whacking the life (or lack thereof) out of the walkers.

I wanted to be out there helping. But I didn't have any weapons and I knew the guys had the rest handled. So I sat and waited until Rick came and told us it was safe to come out.

We slowly walked out of the RV, each of us haunted by the faces of those we had lost and those who had already been lost. That night, sleep was practically unachievable and my back hurt the next morning.

Everyone was shaken by the appearance of all those walkers at once. It was like they had been traveling in a pack or something. And they had come out where we thought we were safe. They were running out of food in the city and now they were branching out.

Daryl was putting a pickaxe through each dead persons' head when I woke up (more like decided to get out of my sleeping bag). I could hardly look over at Amy's body. She had been my friend and I could feel tears running silently down my face, though it never fully registered to me that I was crying. I just walked around aimlessly, staring into the faces of everyone who had died last night. I guess it would be more accurate to say they had been laid to rest; the ones who had attacked us had already been dead.

Everything passed by in a hazy blur as the men lined "ours" up in a row and burned "theirs".

Jacqui yelled something about Jim getting bit and nobody knew what to do. But honestly, I was too detached to pay much attention to what was going on between them.

Then we all made a trip up the hill for a few funerals. The trek up the hill seemed longer than it actually was.

Carol didn't seem perturbed at all that Ed had died last night in the attack. She actually seemed kind of relieved.

I walked between her and Daryl. He seemed to be watching me out of the corner of his eye; as if gauging how I would react to everything.

When we got to the holes Jim had dug up, Daryl stood beside me, closer than normal. When it came time for Amy's burial and Andrea couldn't lower her on her own, but wouldn't accept any help, I felt more tears start to leak out of my eyes.

I felt Daryl look over at me and sensed his shy hesitation as he reached over and grabbed my small hand in his large, calloused one. It was the way a child might hold their parent's hand while skipping up to the doors of a supermarket, or the way two school children might hold hands while playing on the playground. But it was perfect. I needed the emotional stability. In the small action, he conveyed his support. His hand around mine gave me the strength I needed to see past all of the death and heartbreak of losing loved ones.

No one seemed to notice Daryl's strange display of kindness. The kindness only I was aware of. The kindness I knew he was capable of. The kindness that saved me.

DARYL'S POV:

I didn't like the thought of letting Jim live while he was liable to turn into a nightmare on half-working feet at any given moment. But it was what everyone wanted, so I couldn't do very much.

After the funerals, we made our way back to camp and set up a plan. We were going to the CDC.

Everyone started packing their things, getting ready for the trip into the city where we may or may not find a cure and shelter. I took my time packing my stuff, not in any hurry to go into what might just be a nest of walkers. When everything was packed, I threw it in the bed of my truck.

Morales and his family decided they would separate from us and Rick gave them a gun and some ammo.

Then we started loading up.

"You wanna ride with me?" I asked Keagan, tossing my backpack into the bed of the truck.

She looked over to her truck which was now empty in the gas department and stripped for parts for the RV. She had been fuming when she came up from doing laundry to see Dale picking at the pieces under the hood of her beloved truck. I had felt sorry for her. I would have been pissed too if someone had been doing that to my truck. She had given them a piece of her mind, using words I wasn't sure I had ever heard a lady use.

She sighed and nodded, getting in on the passengers side. I followed suit on the opposite side and started the engine, following the caravan-like procession we had going into Atlanta.

Within 10 minutes on the road, Keagan had fallen asleep. I grinned at her, sprawled all over her seat in a clumsy manner, drool sliding down the side of her face.

I reached forward to turn on the CD I had still in the dash from before the apocalypse. It was a really sucky CD, but I didn't care; I missed music too much to care.

Ironically, the song was Good Morning Beautiful. I sang along with the familiar song. Normally I don't really like this shit, but now I couldn't help but admire its accuracy. The entire time I sang with the old CD, I thought back to the night Keagan slept in my arms.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry guys, this chapter seems kind of fast-paced. I have a tendency to rush things when i start writing something and get too excited :P Thanks for reading and reviews are appreciated! **


	14. Goodbye

KEAGAN'S POV:

"Keagan! Wake up!" said a whispered voice.

I opened my eyes to Daryl. He had a hard look on his face.

"RVs broken," he said shortly, hopping out of the truck's open door.

I wiped the last of my sleep from my eyes and blearily followed him over to the RV. I stumbled a little in my sleepy haze, but I still made it to the RV in one piece.

The RV's engine was letting off an awful lot of smoke. Dale announced the parts he needed and T-dog and Shane immediately took off to find any cars they could to scavenge the parts we would need. We all just kind of stood around, waiting for T-dog and Shane to come back so we could get back on the road and out of danger.

I wasn't sure about everyone else, but I felt a little exposed out in the open like this. Sure we were armed, but we were not prepared for a group of walkers like the ones back at the quarry. They had cleaned out most of our ammo and lots of our people. Sure they had brought back that big bag of guns, but even those gun's ammo was running low. That meant less people to protect us and less weapons to do it. I needed a gun. I knew how to use it, clean it, and respect it; I was from Texas. I should be allowed one. I would have to speak to Rick about that later.

I sighed and walked over to the grassy area on the side of the road and sat in the shade created by the trees.

It was too hot out here for our own good. If we ran out of deodorant anytime soon, walkers would be able to smell us from even farther away. Do walkers have body odor? I mean, I know they smell disgusting, like rot and decay, but do they sweat and get smelly from it?

I shook my head in bewilderment and idly wondered what the group would do if they knew the crazy things I think about when I have to much time on my hands.

Daryl came over. "What'chu shakin' yer head for?" he asked, lowering himself onto the grass next to me and laying back, stretched out on the ground.

"Thinking," I responded, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around my legs.

"'Bout?"

Did he have to question everything?

I tilted my head back to look at the clouds (or maybe cover a blush) and answered, "Whether or not walkers sweat."

He chuckled and I saw him shake his head a little out of the corner of my eye.

Then Jacqui came rushing out of the RV. Everyone looked to her, afraid the worst had happened to Jim.

"Its Jim." Oh. Great.

Rick ran into the RV, hand on his gun, just in case.

I closed my eyes and frowned. Poor Jim. He was a nice enough guy, he minded his own and was really helpful. He didn't deserve this.

"What do you think they're gonna do?" I asked, not meaning for it to really come out.

Daryl took a few seconds to answer. "I dunno." His answered was so unsure. It was weird to hear someone like Daryl admit that he didn't know something. Sure I knew there were things he didn't know, there were things none of us knew. But to hear him admit that… I was sure that anyone from his old life would have paid a pretty penny to hear that acknowledgement come from Daryl Dixon's mouth.

I didn't ponder that too long though. T-dog and Shane came rushing back, car parts galore bundled in their arms. Dale immediately set to fixing whatever was broken.

I pulled the hair tie out of my hair and shook my hair out, running my hands through it to get the knots out. I put the hair tie around my wrist and started playing with my hair the way my mom used to. My heart ached when I thought about my mom. I missed her and I wished she were here right now. At least she had died before the dead started eating the living.

Daryl lifted a hand and grabbed a strand of my hair, twirling it between his fingers. It was a little comforting, so I didn't stop him. He just continued watching the way my hair spun crazily between his fingers, looking completely at ease for the first time I had seen him (besides when he was asleep right next to me).

Rick came out of the RV looking desperate and a little disturbed. Like he was about to have to do something he never would have even thought about before.

Daryl sat straight up and I got to my feet, rushing over to the circle that was beginning to form.

"He cant take much more. He wants us to leave him," Rick said, taking his officer's cowboy hat off.

"Just leavin' him here? I don't know if I could live with that on my conscience, man." Something about Shane just got on my last nerve. I gritted my teeth to keep from yelling at him. I don't know what I would have yelled, but it would have involved lots of language unsuitable for Carl and Sophia.

I felt terrible for Jim. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. It must've been awful.

Within minutes, though, Jim had been carried out of the RV and propped up against a tree.

Rick leaned over him and tried to offer him a gun. But Jim shook his head, refusing vehemently. "You'll need it," he'd said.

When everyone had said their goodbyes, I walked forward. I grabbed his pale, thin hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

He gave me the ghost of a smile. Then his eyes flicked behind me, where Daryl was standing, ever-present crossbow in hand.

"You can change him." Jim muttered.

I frowned. What did that mean?

"He acts like he doesn't, but he cares about a lot of people here. He'll be there for everyone when they need him to be. You most of all. Be good to him."

I wanted to protest; he was making it sound like there was something romantic between Daryl and I. But he was dying and I didn't want my last conversation with him to be an argument. I just nodded and stood, walking back toward Daryl.

Daryl gave him one short nod and followed me back to the truck.

The RV was up and running and it was time to get off the side of the road.

I watched Jim fade into a small black dot as we sped away toward Atlanta.


	15. I Hate Myself When I'm Drunk

KEAGAN'S POV:

I didn't want to, but now seemed as good a time as any. I cleared my throat and asked, "How come you never told me you had a brother?"

He seemed a little caught off guard, but he answered smoothly, "Never came up."

I frowned.

We were pulling into the city. We passed countless signs all warning us of the hellhole Atlanta had become. There were very few walkers around, which I found very odd.

"Prolly found some other poor bastard to munch on," Daryl had said when I voiced the thought. I scowled at his callously stated assumption.

Then I saw it. The Center for Disease Control. The pavement surrounding it was littered with bodies. All dead. But an unknown amount could still be able to walk. There were sandbags, stacked atop each other to make for a barrier between the now dead soldiers and the undead citizens.

Everyone exited their vehicles, leaving most of their belongings just in case we had to make a mad dash back to safety because the places was overrun.

Daryl ran around the truck and nodded once at me. I nodded back and we started jogging to catch up with the others who were running down the street. I almost tripped over my foot once, but Daryl caught me before I could fall. After that, he felt it necessary to keep his hand on my lower back to guide me through the maze of carcasses. I snatched the knife out of my belt loop and continued on, following Carol and Sophia.

Then we came to a door. Shane banged on it and he and Rick tried pushing on it, to see if it would move. It didn't.

"Rick, man, we gotta leave. There's no one in there," Shane said.

"Walkers!" I heard Daryl bellow beside me.

I turned to see 3 or 4 walkers stumbling towards us, eyes alight with the prospect of a meal.

Daryl easily dispatched a few of them before Rick and Shane doomed us all. They got into a yelling match over whether or not there was someone inside. Worst time for a testosterone competition ever.

I grabbed onto the back of Daryl's shirt, ready to face death. Maybe I hadn't quite expected to go out like this, but I had a good run. We all had.

I heard Sophia whimper in Carol's arms behind me. I let go of Daryl's shirt and turned around, putting my arms around them both. Carol accepted the embrace, returning it and crying into my shoulder. We were all ready to die here. There were more walkers shambling toward us. Daryl was almost out of arrows. There was no way he would be able to protect us against them with how many were coming at once.

He turned around, hopelessness in his eyes. I let go of Carol and Sophia, turning toward Daryl. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight. I squeezed back. I sighed, trying to control the shaking in my body. This was it.

There were a few screams and then the brightest light I had ever seen washed over all of us. I thought I had died and gone to heaven for a minute, but then I looked around and saw the walkers getting closer to us.

I ran, pulling Daryl with me.

The CDC doors had opened.

oO0Oo

A blood test. That was what Dr. Edmond Jenner wanted from us in return for shelter. We were all too happy to oblige. All except Andrea who complained the whole time.

After the doctor had told us we could stay, we had a race out to the vehicles to grab our supplies and get back. Daryl had grabbed my backpack for me. After I thanked him, he gruffly said, "Yer welcome."

After the blood tests, Jenner led us to a cafeteria-type room. There was tons of food stocked up in a large fridge/freezer room of to the side. We had a feast.

Before drinks started getting passed around, things were a little awkward between Daryl and I. We had both allowed ourselves to take comfort in another's presence outside the doors of the CDC. That was a mistake in this new world. If you did that, you got attached, if you got attached, you got used to their presence. And their presence could be suddenly yanked away. But we had thought we were about to die and had nothing left to lose.

But then Jenner showed us his large booze cabinet. We greedily drank, as he assured us we could eat and drink as much as we wanted. The drinks were given out generously. Before long, everyone but me was drunk. Although I was quite tipsy. Like I said, I was from Texas.

But, when Daryl challenged Glenn, his attention turned to me. "You say you're a big hot-shot drinker from Texas!" Daryl announced, his words slurring slightly.

"And?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow amusedly at the drunk redneck.

"I bet I can outdrink you!"

I shook my head, laughing. "I've already won. Do you hear how bad you're slurring?"

He pouted and grumbled, so I gave in.

He set up 4 shot glasses, 2 on each side of the table. Then he filled each to the top with a bottle of Everclear someone passed up to him.

We each grabbed a shot glass and threw them back. I swallowed, screwing my eyes up and shaking my head. When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry and I could've sworn I was leaning a little to the left. Daryl was leaning on a chair for support, his focus going in and out as he gazed from one thing to another in the room. Everyone in the room laughed at us, me still trying to see and Daryl almost passing out.

"Round two!" T-dog yelled, smiling.

We each took a deep breath and put our hands on the shot glasses. I knew I was going to regret this in the morning. I upended my glass, letting the liquid burn a trail down my throat.

Daryl swallowed and immediately fell over, knocking the chair over in his tumble, eliciting peals of laughter from everyone. I couldn't see him because the table was in the way and now my vision was even more crazy. But I hear him mutter from the floor, "Holy drunk I'm fuck."

I giggled a little and stumbled back over to my chair.

Rick stood and went to help Daryl up.

When he got him up, Daryl blinked at him, squinting through his liquor fog. "Is there a officer, problem?"

Many found this hilarious, including Rick himself.

After everyone was done eating and drinking, the doctor showed us to where we would be sleeping.

Glenn helped me carry Daryl, his arms strung across our shoulders, I stumbled quite a bit and so did Glenn, but someone made sure we all made it to the right rooms without managing to do something stupid.

The first thing I did was take a shower, but I'm pretty sure I slipped at one point. It did feel good to be able to wash the dirt off of my body, though. I stumbled out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel around my body. My hair hung in wet strands around my face. I held a bottle of Jack Daniels in my hand and I took a swig. I dug through my backpack, looking for some clothes, but I found the picture. I cried silently for a few minutes before my door handle jiggled.

Someone walked in.

"What's up?" I asked, wiping my eyes before turning to face Daryl.

He blinked at me. "I think you won," he said.

He had on a pair of jeans, no shirt and his hair was dripping wet, letting water drops roll down his toned chest. His eyes held a lust hat had my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.

He walked forward and I intercepted him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Then I crashed my lips onto his. He responded immediately, holding me closer to him. I pulled away.

"What was that fer?" he asked, looking a little dizzy, his eyes oddly focused considering how drunk he was.

I could see him clearly, his blue eyes illuminated, his hair making my forehead wet. "For being here." I said, hugging him tighter. "And I kinda wanted to do that for a long time now. At least I think I have, maybe I just haven't admitted it to myself." Sometimes I hate myself when I'm drunk.

"Me too," he said, leaning his cheek on the top of my head and holding my shoulders closer.

I looked up, straight into those blue eyes that drove me crazy. He tilted his head down, letting his lips connect with mine again. We started moving closer and closer to the bed. We paused for a second so I could take my bag off the bed and put it on the floor. When I thought he wasn't paying any attention, I laid the picture upside down on the bedside table.

If I wasn't drunk, I probably never would have done this. Not so soon after losing Bradley. But tonight, I just didn't care.


	16. What the Hell Did I Do Last Night?

DARYL'S POV:

I woke up to a pitch black room and a terrible pounding in my head. I wanted to groan, but I couldn't work up the energy to even do that.

Then I realized something. I had no clothes on under this blanket.

I reached over and touched something warm, soft. It wasn't a something, it was a someone. I turned my head to look at Keagan. She didn't have clothes on either. She had the blanket pulled up around her, tucked under her armpits.

What the hell did I do last night?

I closed my eyes and frowned. I had to get out of here before Keagan woke up. I didn't remember a single thing that happened last night after I got in the shower. I wonder if she remembered. I couldn't let her think that I had done something to her. I didn't want her to think I was a creep.

I got up, trying to move as slowly as possible so I didn't move the bed too much and wake her up.

I quickly pulled on a pair of pants and looked around, realizing I must've not have come in a shirt.

Then I spotted something on the bedside table. I walked over, picking up the photograph. I flipped it over. It was Keagan and some dude. I guess it was that Bradley guy she told me about. They were both smiling from ear to ear and giving each other bunny ears.

So that was what she looked like post-apocalypse. I wasn't sure which her I liked better; dressy and goofy, or strong sexy and dirty from the blood and grime of trying to live in our world's current state.

I frowned at the feeling of jealousy I felt at seeing her with that guy.

She started moving around, so I placed the picture back on the table and dashed out of the room before she could see me there.

KEAGAN'S POV:

I woke up naked. Which was weird; I don't normally sleep in the nude.

But then I saw the towel beside the bed. I must've taken a shower, wrapped myself in the towel, and taken the towel off before I passed out.

Damn… I couldn't remember anything about last night except for the fact that I totally kicked Daryl's butt at that drinking competition.

My hangover didn't really kick in until I stood up. The whole room spun and a wave of vertigo hit me hard. I swallowed down the sick feeling I had and started to get dressed.

When I made my way down to the cafeteria room, everyone was starting to leave, following the doctor out. I caught up to Daryl who was in the back of the group.

He seemed a bit stiff when he saw me. Like I had stabbed him or something.

"You 'member anything 'bout las' night?" he asked, keeping his eyes forward.

I shook my head. "Other than kicking your ass at our little alcohol battle, nothing."

He nodded, a small smile forming at the corner of his lips. We continued walking in silence, until we got to the big room with all the computers and the big screen. Then Jenner proceeded to tell us about the medical aspects of this crazy new disease.


	17. I Want Someone Too

DARYL'S POV:

She said she didn't remember anything about last night, but how did I know she wasn't just saying that so things didn't get awkward? I guess I just had to trust that she wasn't that great of an actress.

Jenner led us back to the computer room and told us all about how the virus/disease/infection worked. I wasn't really interested; I didn't need to know how it worked in the body to know those fuckers were lethal. I didn't pay much attention until I saw a bullet flash straight through the skull of TS-19. That caused quite the uproar in the group. They had a mini- hypocrisy session and then got on with their lives, listening intently to the doctors prognosis.

I stayed near the back, not caring much about the technicalities of walker anatomy and physiology. I got the gist of it, though. It started infecting the brain, attacking the parts that made you human and left you with the base points of motor function and a cannibalistic sense of survival. To put an end to the beast meant to destroy the brain, the only thing keeping it semi-alive.

Jenner compared it to meningitis, explaining the thing that turned our worlds upside down as we watched the big screen, hoping for answers that made sense.

"Everything you ever were, or ever will be… Gone," Jenner muttered.

Everyone watched as the blackness on the screen began lighting up, red instead of blue like it had been.

"It restarts the brain?" someone asked.

"Just the stem. It makes sure you can still move. But the neocortex… The part that makes you you? That part doesn't come back." Jenner said, looking to Rick.

Whether or not those walkers were alive or not as defined by science was debatable. There were several points that characterized what a living thing was. Walkers had only some of those qualities. Some of the key ones.

A flash of white scorched its way staright through the restarted brain of TS-19, leaving an open trail through the skull. He had shot the patient.

After a moment of shocked silence, Rick spoke up. "There are others. Other centers, working on a cure, right?"

Jenner shrugged. "I've lost contact with everyone on the outside. I've been in the dark for about a month."

Andrea spoke then. "So there's nothing left. That's basically what you're trying to tell us, right? Nothing left anywhere?"

I rubbed my eyes, turning to lean against a desk. "Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk. Again."

"Dr. Jenner?" Dale asked, walking forward. "I know this had been taxing for you, and I hate to ask one more question, but… that clock." He pointed to a clock with red numbers ticking down on the wall that I hadn't noticed before.

I looked back to him, seeing Keagan in the corner of my vision and feeling my face heat up as I remembered what I had woken up this morning to find out I had done last night.

"Its counting down," Dale continued. "What happens at zero?"

Jenner hesitated. "The basement generators… they run out of fuel."

Rick stepped forward, looking slightly panicked. "And then?"

Jenner just ignored his question and kept walking past him.

Rick looked up to the ceiling. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

That computerized voice that sounding like it was coming from everywhere all at once said, "When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

I didn't know what that meant (and it looked like I wasn't the only one) but I didn't like the way it sounded.

oO0Oo

Everyone excluding T-dog, Glenn, Rick, and Shane returned to their rooms. That group went down into the generator room to search for a solution, possibly more fuel.

After what could've only been half an hour of sitting and staring at the ground angrily as I drank straight from a bottle of Southern Comfort, the lights and air turned off. I heard people outside asking what was going on.

I opened my door and leaned out into the hall, bottle still in hand, gripping the doorjamb with the other hand. "What's goin' on? Why's everything turnin' off?"

Someone snatched the bottle of SoCo out of my hand and continued walking. I saw the back of the white lab jacket Jenner owned. "Energy use is being prioritized," Jenner explained, continuing his brisk walk in the direction of the big room.

"Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked.

Jenner took a big gulp from the bottle and we followed after him, turning the corner at the end of the hall. "Its not up to me."

The hallway lights went out.

"Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

"Hey! Hey, what the hell's that mean?" I asked. I ran forward, catching up to the doctor. "Hey, man I'm talkin' to you. What do ya mean it's shuttin' itself down? How can a building do anything?"

Rick and the rest of the group came out of a door to our left and ran up to us as Jenner retorted, "You'd be surprised."

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked, sounding a bit angered.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. Its designed to keep the computers running till the last possible second."

We came in sight of the big room, Jenner saying something about some "half hour mark". I looked up to the clock. It read "00:31:28".

"Right on schedule," Jenner said. Jenner began to walk up the short stairs to the computers, then turned to hand me my bottle back.

I yanked it away from him, splashing some of the light brown liquid on the floor beneath me.

"It was the French," Jenner announced, turning back to the rest of the group.

"What?" Andrea asked as the doctor turned back around.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in their las till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

Everyone looked down, crestfallen.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked from somewhere near the back of the group.

Jenner shrugged his shoulders, glancing down. "Same thing that's happening here; no power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuels, I mean how stupid is that?" he muttered, going to sit in a rolling chair in front of a computer.

Shane jumped up, a look of pure murderous intent deep in his eyes.

Rick hopped between the two before he could start anything. Then he turned back to us, instructing us to go and get our stuff. "We're leaving. NOW!"

We didn't need to be told twice. We turned on our heels and ran.

Before we could make it halfway to the doors, red lights started flashing and a siren beeped at random intervals, alarming everyone. We stopped, stock-still, wondering what was happening.

Then a timer popped up on the big screen and Vi's large voice announced, "30 minutes to decontamination."

Jenner shut off the noise and painfully bright lights and we sped towards the door once more. But, once again, before we could get to them, they shut.

Glenn started freaking out, repeating the same thing over and over. How Jenner locked us in.

I ran forward, gripping the bottle of Southern Comfort tightly in my hand, ready to knock his block off. "You son of a bitch!" I yelled. Before I could grab onto Jenner, Shane and T-dog pulled me away. I was only able to grab the back of his chair, pulling him a few feet away from the desk before my fingers slipped and I couldn't do anything else to him. They set me down, releasing their hold when I nodded, indicating that I was good.

By the time my head had cleared of a tiny bit of red fury, I heard Jenner say, "Its better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asked, towering over the sitting scientist.

"In the case of a terrorist attack for example, HITs are deployed to prevent organisms from getting out."

I didn't like the sound of that.

"HITs?" Rick asked, backing up a few steps.

Jenner's voice rose in volume as he said, "Vi, define."

Without pause, Vi said, "HITs - High Impulse Thermobaric fuel explosives…."

I didn't listen to anymore. All sound was drowned out by the sound of crying people anyway.

I turned my head. Keagan was looking up into the ticking clock, eyes filled with tears.

Everyone in here had someone to hug or hold onto in this, our most desperate half-hour. Just this once, I wanted someone, too. So I ran to her.

She looked up, seeing the pain and fear in my eyes.

I picked her up in my arms, squeezing her to me as she squeezed me as tight as she could. I closed my eyes, holding the back of her head as she convulsed under the weight of her sobs against my chest. I held her tighter and tried to forget the fact that I was going to die in 26 minutes and 47 seconds.


	18. Not What We Seem

KEAGAN'S POV:

Daryl ran to me, fear evident in his features. He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. I pulled him closer to me, crying into his chest again. He lifted his arm and held the back of my head with his hand, cradling me against his chest.

Through the circle of his arm, I could see Carol and Sophia holding each other and crying on the floor. T-dog and Shane were staring into space, trying to come to terms with the fact that we were all going to be blown to pieces in less than 30 minutes. Glenn was looking around frantically, searching for something it seemed. Rick, Lori, and Carl were all huddled together, crying and sagging against each other.

I closed my eyes, pulling Daryl even closer to me. He held me tighter and I thought I felt his lips against my forehead.

I opened my eyes and looked up. "Daryl?" I asked, tears sliding down my cheeks.

He looked down, terror in his eyes. "What?" he whispered.

"We're gonna die in here." My voice sounded small and scared in my own ears.

I wasn't sure if he was agreeing with me or if he even heard me when he leaned down and kissed me. My eyes opened wide, surprise surfacing. I almost pushed away. Not because I didn't want him to, just because it didn't seem right to do this in front of everybody. Then I remembered we were all about to die. I let my eyes slide closed and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself up. Everything around us got the tiniest bit quieter as everyone watched Daryl show the first bit of human emotion any of them had seen from him (other than when he found out about Merle).

I opened my eyes and pulled away, leaning my forehead against his. We stayed like that, looking into each other's eyes and breathing hard for an immeasurable amount of time.

"Daryl!" Rick called.

Daryl's head snapped up and he looked to where Rick was holding up an axe. His eyes grew wide and he let go of me, running to Rick and grabbing the axe out of mid-air as Rick tossed it to him.

I saw Carol and Sophia and walked over to them, tears still pooling in the rim of my eyes. Carol extended an arm to me, hugging me and her daughter at the same time.

The clangs of the axes against the door echoed throughout the room, hurting my head and adding to my anxiety.

Rick had returned to Dr. Jenner's side, trying to convince him to let us go. But I didn't care enough to listen; he would never let us go. He believed that it was better for all of us to have our lives taken away from us by force rather than letting us attempt to live in the terrible world outside these walls. And I believed trying to persuade him to let us go was useless.

But, I got mine when the axe clanging stopped and everybody yelled, "RUN!"

I looked up and the door had opened. I ran to catch up with Daryl. He was standing by the door, holding his hand out to me. I grabbed it and we ran. But then we turned to see Jacqui telling T-dog she was staying.

I felt more tears threatening, but I pushed them back down as everyone started running down the hall to their rooms again. I let go of Daryl's hand and burst through the door of my room, shoveling everything in sight into my backpack. Then I ran out into the hall, seeing everyone running back toward the entrance. When I got there, T-dog was trying to use a chair to make the glass window break, but the chair just kept glancing off.

"Get down!" Shane yelled.

T-dog ran and dropped to his belly as Shane shot at the glass with a shotgun. But it didn't do anything. It ricocheted off, the casing of the bullet landing beside my foot.

Carol ran forward, digging through her bag. "I think I have something that might help."

"I don't think a nail file's gonna help," Shane sneered.

I rolled my eyes. What a dick.

But Carol ignored him and pulled out a grenade. "I found this in your pocket the first day you were at camp when I washed your clothes."

Rick grabbed the grenade and ran to the window.

Daryl came up behind me, grabbing me around my waist.

"Everyone get down!" Rick yelled as he pulled the pin. He delayed a second before running, though and yelled, "Oh shit!" and jumped away from the explosive fire.

Daryl yanked me down onto the ground, hovering above me to shield me from any stray glass shards. When it was all quiet, everyone stood up and surged out of the windows, hurrying to get as far away from the building as possible before it exploded. I gripped one of the straps of my backpack and grabbed Daryl's hand as he pulled me forward, running toward his truck.

A few walkers popped up on the way, but those were dealt with effortlessly.

I jumped in the passenger's seat of Daryl's truck and Daryl hopped in on the driver's side, shutting the door promptly.

I turned to look at the CDC. Andrea and Dale were crawling out of the shattered window. My heart pumped faster. If they didn't hurry, they would be hit with the flames and debris of the CDC. They started running, but just as they got behind a few sandbags, they dropped and the CDC started to explode.

Daryl grabbed my head and pulled me down so that I had my face against the middle seat. He ducked down, too, his face hidden in my back.

Even inside the old truck, I could feel the heat of the flames. The loud boom of the explosives made my ears pop and ring, but I could still hear the wreckage raining down all around us.

After a few minutes of silence, I felt Daryl lift his head. He kept his hands covering my head though, just in case the chaos was still ensuing. But, Daryl took his hands off my head and said, "I think its safe."

I slowly and cautiously lifted my head, peeking out of the window. The CDC was now just a very large pile of smoldering ash. There were some colossal chunks of metal were strewn about, bent and on fire.

Around the corner of the CDC, I could see many walkers lifting their head in recognition of the noise.

I looked ahead just in time to catch the back of Dale's foot, following Andrea's inside the RV.

Daryl started the truck and our little caravan took off down the road, without a destination, without a purpose, seemingly without hope. But, when Daryl bashfully grabbed my hand and I thought I saw him blush, I couldn't help but smile and think that if something as miraculous as someone like Daryl blushing and being shy could happen, maybe we could survive this.


	19. Bradley's Return

DARYL'S POV:

The drive was almost completely silent. Only a few words were said and they were things like "Its hot" or "I'm tired". Most of it was her. I couldn't think of anything to say. I just mumbled a "mhm" or the occasional "yeah".

We were on a highway when everyone ahead of us stopped. I shut the truck off and got out, walking to the RV. I tapped on the window. "What's th' hold up, ol' man?" I asked Dale after he pulled the window open.

"We cant get through," he explained, gesturing to the highway full of cars ahead of us. It stretched on like that for what seemed like miles. There wasn't enough space between the parked vehicles for the RV to get through.

Dale shut the RV off and everyone started piling out of their automobiles.

I threw a hand up to wave to Keagan that it was safe to get out.

She jumped out of the truck and pulled her shirt down over the belt around her pants.

I went to pull my crossbow out of the truck and began scouting around as everyone dispersed, searching the cars and a few of the men helped Dale with the motor of the RV.

I looked behind me to see Keagan talking to Sophia as Carol looked on, smiling widely. If I didn't know any better (and Keagan looked even a little like either Carol or Sophia) I would think they were all a family. Keagan asked Carol something, to which Carol nodded, and then Keagan took Sophia's hand and they walked to the side of the RV, Sophia toying with her doll.

I turned around, walking toward the tree line with my crossbow swinging lightly in my hand. I walked around, gazing deep into the trees for any sign of walkers.

As I watched, I thought about Keagan. We had slept with each other and she didn't know it. I wondered about our kiss in front of everyone in the CDC. Did it mean anything? Was she only doing it because we were going to die? It wouldn't surprise me. But the realization of this highly likely probability made something twist in my gut. I shrugged it off as just hunger.

Nothing moved in the trees on the edge of the highway, so I began walking back to the vehicles.

Sophia was back with her mom, looking through cars for supplies, but I couldn't see Keagan anywhere. I began panicking.

But when I went to the front of the RV and saw a very familiar rear end bent over the inside of the RV's hood. T-dog, Glenn, Dale, Shane, and Rick were standing around, looking very impressed with her.

I decided to joke with her, so when the guys looked up, I held a finger up to my lips and they nodded, smiling (except Shane who scowled and walked away). After I slung my crossbow over my shoulder, I snuck up behind her and grabbed her around the waist, picking her up.

She flailed, trying not to scream. Then she looked down and saw my hands. "Daryl! Put me down!" she said, a little louder than necessary, but not too loud.

I laughed along with the other guys and set her down as she huffed, moving her hair out of her face.

She turned to face me, her hands on her hips, one eyebrow quirked in question, and grease smeared on her cheek. it's a good thing she didn't think to attack, because she had a wrench in her hand. I found that I kinda liked the sight of her like this. Sweaty, greasy, and tool-bearing. My kinda girl.

"C'mon, I's just messin' with ya." I said, smirking at her.

She finally cracked a smile and rolled her eyes, turning back toward the engine of the RV. She tampered with something, making some clinking noises and then told Dale, "Try that."

He went into the RV and turned the key in the ignition. It started without stuttering. Dale looked pleased and Glenn, T-dog, and Rick clapped dramatically.

She tossed the wrench into Glenn's hands and began walking away, swinging her hips in a sinfully alluring way.

I watched her walk away for longer than completely necessary, but when I turned around, all the guys except Dale were doing the same. I cocked a brow at them. Rick especially; he was married. They all cleared their throats and looked down, blushing furiously. Rick mumbled an excuse and walked over toward Lori and Carl.

"Sorry man," Glenn muttered, walking past me.

I turned toward him, confused. "Fer what?"

Glenn turned back around. "Well, she's like your's, you know?"

I shook my head, feeling my face heat up. "No, she's not."

Glenn looked like he wanted to argue, but knew better than to do so with me. He just nodded and ran off to talk to Keagan.

I scowled and looked back to the RV.

Rick was walking back towards me, waving to Lori and Carl. He came up to me, taking off his sheriff's hat.

"Somethin' you want officer?" I sneered, remembering the way he had looked at Keagan. To be fair, it was hard not to look at her that way, but it still made me angry.

He ignored my attitude and said, "Would you come with me? We need to search around and make sure we're safe."

I had already scouted up ahead, making sure nothing dangerous was in the immediate area, but Rick seemed like he really wanted to go.

"Sure," I said, suspicious.

Rick led the way over to the tree line, completely silent at first. Then he said, "What's going on with you and Keagan?"

I hesitated a second. "Why? Ya want her fer yaself? I saw the way you's lookin' at her earlier." My temper flared. What business did he have asking these questions? He was married and Keagan was… Well I don't know what she was, but she damn sure wasn't gonna be his.

He looked down ashamed. "I know that was inappropriate, but I'm only human and Keagan is a rather attractive woman. As I know you've noticed. And attractive women are a rarity these days. I don't ask because I'm interested in her in any way that isn't professional. I only ask because of you."

I looked up then. "Me? Why?"

Rick nodded back up the hill to where she was swinging Sophia around in her arms.

I felt my gaze soften as I looked upon the scene.

"I just wonder how you're doing. I see how much she affects you. You affect her too, you know."

I looked to him then.

He nodded. "If you want to tell me anything, I know what women are like. Hell, Lori knows even more. Ask her if you don't feel comfortable talking to me about this. But talking might help. And Lord knows we need as little stress as possible nowadays. You can trust me though. I aint gonna tell anybody."

"What? You askin' to be BFFs?" I satirized him, thinking it sounded stupid. Only the tiniest bit tempting, but stupid. "Thanks, but no thanks." I said over my shoulder as I walked back to my truck. I sat in the driver's seat, the door closed and the engine off.

Keagan came up to the rolled down window as I chewed on my thumbnail. "Hey," she said softly. "You okay?"

I stopped biting my nail for just long enough to respond with, "Just fuckin' fine." I was glad she was a Texan girl and could take my pissy attitude (she was probably used to it) and didn't get pissed off at me for being in a mood.

She rested a hand over my arm and said, "Daryl?" so quietly I wasn't sure she had spoken at all. I looked over at her. Her eyes held concern.

"I'm alright," I said, unable to keep up the tough act with those eyes watching me like that. I laid my other hand over hers and squeezed it.

She smirked, opening the door. She stepped around it, holding her arms open. I embraced her, pulling her down onto my lap. I wouldn't admit how nice it felt to have someone in my arms. She looked up, her forehead leaned against mine. Her mouth opened a tiny bit and she started leaning forward, so I reciprocated.

But, just as our lips were about to meet, we heard Rick hiss "Get under the cars!" in a harsh whisper.

I picked Keagan up, getting out of the truck and pushing her under. I started to take off, but she grabbed my hand.

"Where are you going?" she asked in a panicked whisper.

"I've gotta make sure they're all okay."

She gave me an odd look, but nodded. "Don't you dare die, Daryl." she whispered, scooting further under the truck.

I nodded once at her tongue-twisted request, running forward.

Immediately I caught sight of T-dog. He was holding his arm, it was dripping blood. There was a walker looking straight at him and it looked like it was about to go for him.

I saw a screwdriver on the ground and picked it up, sneaking up behind the walker and shoving the screwdriver up into the base of its head, making as little noise as possible.

T-dog gave me a horrified look. He probably thought I was just gonna leave him for walker bait.

I held a dirty finger up to my lips and walked closer to T-dog, opening the door of a nearby car. I pulled out the carcass of some poor bastard that got nibbled on by a bunch of zombies. I laid it over T-dog and pulled the recently dead one over myself just in time; a group of walkers shuffled past our bodies laying in the middle of the highway.

Just as the last one moved past me, I tilted my head up and had a clear view of Keagan hiding under my truck. She looked absolutely terrified. But not the same way everyone else under the cars looked. Her eyes held something of panicked recognition. I cast my gaze upward to the walkers by the truck. One of them looked oddly familiar. With a surge of terror, I realized this was Bradley.

Oh damn.


	20. Lost

KEAGAN'S POV:

I felt tears of fear and remorse filling my eyes at the grisly sight before me. Bradley was in the crowd of walkers. Wandering the streets aimlessly, shuffling about with one thing on his mind. Human flesh. One wrong move, one whimper I desperately felt the need to release, and he would be tearing into me. I shuddered at the thought of Bradley eating me alive. Bradley was wearing the same thing he had been that day I had left him on that back road outside Atlanta. Only now there were holes in it and blood stains. He limped weakly, bumping into cars every now and then. His left foot seemed to be twisted at an abnormal angle.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the pavement under me, waiting for this nightmare to be over. When I looked back up, there were no more shuffling feet surrounding me. I looked under a few of the cars to my right. Sophia was under the one behind me and Carl was a little to the right.

It seemed to be clear, so Sophia started inching her way out from under the car. But Bradley and another walker were still stumbling around the car. They caught sight of her and growled. Sophia screamed and started backing away as Bradley began crawling under the car after her.

I rolled out from under the car and ran to Sophia. I pulled her out from under the car and into my arms. But the other walker was coming around the back of the car. I grabbed Sophia's hand and we started running toward the tree line just as Bradley popped out from under the car. We slid down the hill and ran through the trees, Sophia whimpering as she looked behind us.

I didn't dare look back. I just pulled her along with me, tree branches scratching at my skin and dirt coming up in clouds behind us. My breath got shorter and my side started hurting. I grasped at it and kept running.

Then something stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed us. I thought it was a walker at first, but when the hand over my mouth got firmer, I looked closer. It was Rick. "C'mon, we gotta run."

We didn't argue as he took Sophia up in his arms. We could still hear those two behind us, breathing heavily and snarling. Rick grabbed my hand when I slowed up and pulled me along with him, holding Sophia tighter so he didn't drop her.

We got to a creek where Rick set Sophia down and jumped down the ledge in the water. I followed him and grabbed Sophia.

Rick leaned down to her height, whispering quickly before Bradley and the other walker could get to us. I only caught small things like "Stay here" and "we'll come back for you" and something about keeping the sun on her left shoulder. He pointed to a hollow point just small enough for Sophia to crouch down into and she got in, curling into a ball.

I pressed my back up against the wall of the creek as Rick began splashing water at the walkers above. When Bradley fell down, I jumped out as Rick ran off, taunting the other one.

I jumped onto Bradley's upside down figure, yanking my brother's pocket knife out of the loop on my belt. I let a few tears slide down my cheek, holding the knife high above my head. "I'm sorry, Bradley," I whispered as he struggled to get up or turn over and eat me. He growled one last time, trying to turn and look me in the eyes, before I plunged the knife deep into his skull. I repeated the action 5 or 6 times, reducing the back of his head to a bloody mess.

Then I stood up, wiping the knife off on my jeans and trying to wipe the blood off my face.

I turned and saw Sophia, still crouched under the ground, staring wide-eyed at the dead walker before me. She ran forward, grabbing my hand and burying her face into my side as she whimpered. "You knew him, didn't you?" she asked in a small voice.

I nodded. After a moment of silence, I picked Sophia up. "C'mon. We gotta get back to the others on the highway before dark."

It took only a few minutes for us to scramble back up to the bank, but by then I had realized I had no idea where we were. I grabbed Sophia's hand and tried not to let her see how panicked I was. We wandered around for what seemed like hours until it started getting dark.

"Where are we?" Sophia asked in a frightened whisper.

I shook my head, finally giving up on trying to be tough. "I don't know." I groaned and ran a hand over my face.

I swear I've seen that tree before…

I walked a little closer to what looked like a fence. When I got to the barbed wire, I called Sophia over. "There's a fence here. Its gotta be around a house or barn or something." I said, holding the barbed wire open enough for her to slip through. I stepped on the bottom and held the top over my head, letting it snap back into place after I had gotten safely to the other side.

Sure enough, after 5 minutes of wandering around in the fence's area, we came to a house. It looked abandoned, but I couldn't be sure. I made Sophia wait outside for me to check the inside of the house. There seemed to be nothing, so I called her inside. We nailed the door shut, checking all over the house for any kind of supplies. All we found was a bunch of cans of tuna, a bottle of aspirin, and a bunch of bed stuff. Sophia set up a pallet in the kitchen cupboard. I moved a chair from the kitchen over to the window, looking out for walkers.

She laid down after a meal of what she nicknamed terrible tuna and pulled the covers up around herself. After about 10 mintues of her tossing and turning, she spoke. "Do you think we'll find the others?"

I was shocked. I took my eyes off the serene picture of the bright white moon washing over the tall green grass of the fenced-in area. "Of course we will," I said, trying not to let her see how unsure I was.

She sighed and nodded, as if she had suspected as much all along. "What do you think Daryl is thinking?" she asked, startling me further.

I cracked a smirk at her. "Why? Do you have a little crush on Daryl?"

She giggled and shook her head no, blushing. "But he's your friend, isn't he? Do you think he's worried?"

The smile slid from my face. I looked down at the ground. "I know he is." I mumbled. "Get some sleep, kiddo."

She sighed and closed her eyes, but she was talking again within 5 minutes. "Do _you _have a crush on him?"

I snickered. "You could say that." It was trued. In the time that I had known Daryl, I had come to respect him and trust him. And to be honest, I was the tiniest bit attracted to him. Just a little bit, though.

I barely heard her whisper, "So do I."

I turned around, smiling. "I knew it! You know, I think he's a little old for you, but if you are really convinced he is your prince charming, I approve completely."

She giggled, hugging her doll tighter. "I like his accent, it's funny."

I nodded. "I like it too." I smiled, thinking about his drawl. I felt something in my stomach and realized I kinda missed him. That crazy hillbilly was making me miss him! What a jerk…

I blew a stray strand of hair out of my face and turned fully to Sophia. "So, why do you have a crush on Daryl?" I asked, grinning slightly at the thought. How cute was that?

She blushed deeper and said, "He's cute!"

I giggled a little, agreeing completely. "He is, isn't he?"

She nodded vigorously. "And he's nice."

That caught my attention. He was usually never nice to anyone.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, one night when my mommy and daddy were fighting in camp, I snuck out of the tent and went to sit by the fire. Nobody was outside and everyone was asleep. So I just watched the sky while my mommy and daddy argued. Then someone came up behind me and asked me if I was okay. When I turned around it was Daryl. I asked him if his mommy and daddy ever fought and he said yes and told me not to let it make me sad, though, because one day, when all of the walkers go away, I will live happily ever after and never have to hear anybody fight again."

I was stunned. Both at the fact that Daryl had used the term "happily ever after" (which I found hard to imagine) and that he had comforted a little girl when her parents fought. It just made him that much more attractive. I smiled. "That's nice."

She nodded. "Then I thought about my happily ever after and told him what it would be like. I said I wanted everyone to be happy and we could finally eat normal food instead of squirrels and canned vegetables. And I said I wanted Daryl there. I think he blushed, but it was dark so I couldn't tell."

I grinned. "That sounds like the perfect happily ever after, Sophia. Now I think you should go to sleep, its getting late and we gotta leave tomorrow and look for the others."

She nodded and yawned, finally tired out.

I turned back to looking out the window for anything suspicious.

Just before Sophia finally passed out, I heard her whisper, "I think he has a crush on you, too."


	21. Reunited

DARYL'S POV:

My heart pounded faster as I watched Keagan and Sophia run into the woods with those walkers on their tail. It took a minute for me to get over the shock and by then Rick had gone into the woods after them. I jumped up on top of the hood of a car and watched out in the woods with everyone else.

Carol broke down, crying into Lori's shoulder.

I held my breath, then finally decided to go down the hill and go after them. But just as I reached the tree line, Rick walked out. His hands were empty and his face disappointed. I grabbed his shoulder and he looked straight into my eyes. Then he shook his head, walking back to the others. I dropped to my knees, staring into the woods. She was gone. Keagan and the little girl. I felt my eyes stinging, but then I heard Rick talking to the others.

"They're still out there. I told them to make their way back to the highway."

Carol spoke up then, sobbing. "You just left her there?"

Rick shook his head. "Keagan stayed with her. She's probably still with her now. I didn't find Keagan either."

I walked over to them, grabbing my crossbow. "Lets go get 'em, then! They cant be out there after dark. Its too dangerous."

They nodded and started grabbing weapons and heading out into the woods. I stalked through the trees, looking for any sign of the two. I found some tracks, but they stopped out of nowhere. Other than a church with a couple walkers in it and a bell on a timer, nothing odd or even helpful happened.

We split up back at the church and on our way back, Andrea screamed. We all spun around to see a walker leaning over her, trying to eat her.

But out of nowhere, a chick with short hair and a wooden baseball bat came flying by on a horse. The walker looked up just in time to get whacked in the face. He fell over, landing on his back. "Lori? Lori Grimes?" the girl asked, looking through the faces of our group.

"What? What is it?" Lori asked, walking forward.

"Rick sent me. Its Carl, he's been shot. But you gotta come quick." Lori ran forward, hopping on the horse behind the girl.

"Wait!" I yelled. "You cant get on that horse, we don't even know this girl!"

She ignored me and the girl shouted out some hasty directions to their farm before riding off. As soon as they were gone, the walker started sitting up, groaning.

I leveled my crossbow, aiming it at him. "Shut up!" I said, shooting without a backward glance.

KEAGAN'S POV:

Its been a couple days since we had gotten lost. I wondered if they were looking for us. If so, I hoped no one got hurt because of it.

I grabbed Sophia's hand as we wandered around a bit more. It had been about a day and a half since either of us had eaten. I could hear her stomach growling. I frowned and picked up the pace, the wind blowing.

Then, out of nowhere, a shot rang out, echoing off the trees in the woods. I looked down at Sophia, startled. Gunshots. That meant two things. One, survivors. Two, walkers. Only one shot sounded, so I assumed it was only one walker.

"C'mon, Sophia," I said, picking her up and running toward the yells I could hear. They sounded vaguely familiar. Finally we could hear the human voices on the other side of a line of trees. I set Sophia down and grabbed her hand, running out to the people on the other side of the trees.

The first person I saw was Rick. His eyes opened wide upon the sight of me. "Keagan? Sophia?" he asked, stunned. T-dog, Glenn, and Shane were by him.

Then I looked down. Daryl was laying in a crumpled heap, covered in blood with a necklace of walker ears around his neck. There was a gunshot wound just over his temple.

My eyes widened. I whimpered and dropped to my knees, pulling him onto my lap and cradling his head. "Daryl," I whispered, tears dripping down my face and onto his.

Rick came over and tried to help me lift him so we could get him up to the house I could see further on where the rest of the campers were.

"C'mon, Sophia," I called.

She followed along, running when she caught sight of her mother. They rejoiced, hugging each other and crying, laughing and squeezing. Carol gave me a grateful smile and returned to hugging her daughter.

"I was just kidding," Daryl mumbled when we got him up.

I don't think he realized who I was yet.


	22. Is This Heaven?

DARYL'S POV:

All I knew after I got shot, was that I was sure I heard Keagan whispering my name. "Daryl," she murmured, close to my ear. I felt someone moving my short hair back from my face.

Have I died? Am I in heaven?

Then I felt myself getting hauled upwards. There was a person on either side of me, holding me up as they drug me away. I tried opening my eyes, but it was too bright for me to see anything. "I was just kidding!" I said, not sure what I was really saying.

Then, everything went black for a while.

When I finally woke up, I was in a bed in Herschel's house. He had stitched my side up. Where I had been stuck with one of my own arrows after rolling down that hill.

Today was pretty shitty. Get bucked off a horse and down a hill. Get an arrow stuck in my side. Fall back down the hill after trying to get to the top. Hallucinate and think that the walker snacking on my shoe was Merle giving me a pep-talk. Get back to camp only to get shot in the head. And I didn't even get very far in our search for Sophia and Keagan. Yay me.

I groaned and remembered the voice I thought I had heard. I knew better than to think I hadn't been hallucinating again.

"Daryl?" I heard it again. Whispering my name, enticing me to open my eyes and embrace her, finishing the kiss that we hadn't ended just before I lost her.

I kept my eyes closed, unable to accept the fact that I was imagining her back here with me. But that voice was persistent. Just as she had been, grim determination in everything she did. I remembered the way she looked the last time I had seen her running down that hill from Bradley. Grease still smeared on her face, her hair wild, a hardness in her eyes that spoke leagues of her will to survive. She was completely beautiful.

"Daryl! Are you awake?" The voice was louder now and it sounded a little worried and jumpy. "Daryl, please be okay. I'm here. Just be alright." I heard tears creeping into her voice.

I frowned. Her voice was too sweet to be marred by sorrow. "No tears," I muttered.

"Daryl! You are awake!" I could hear the smile in her voice.

I smiled myself, happy to hear that happiness. I kept my eyes closed, no matter how badly I wanted to open them and see her smiling at me. Because when I opened my eyes and she wasn't really there, I wouldn't be able to handle that.

"Daryl?" she asked again. "Open your eyes sweetheart." I felt a hand grip mine and my eyes flew open.

There she was. Looking just the same as she had that day on the highway, if a little worse for wear.

"Keagan?" I asked, my voice coming out in a ragged whisper.

She nodded, tears filling her eyes.

I lifted a hand and cupped her cheek. She was really here. She put a hand over mine and moved closer. She was in a chair sitting beside my bed.

"I-I thought… You were…" I couldn't make the words come out.

She held a hand up to my face, rubbing a thumb over my cheek. "Shh." she said, leaning forward. She sat on the side of the bed, being careful not to move me too much. "I know."

I just watched her eyes. Those hazel eyes that haunted me for almost a week and a half now. But she was here. She was really with me now. Finally, she was back where she belonged.

I put my arms around her shoulders, trying to ignore the way it pulled the stitches in my side and pulled her down to lay next to me. I laid on my left side since the stitched were on the left and she laid on her left, facing me. She grabbed onto my thumb and I grabbed hers. She leaned her forehead forward, resting it against mine.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, cutting off my view of those perfect eyes. "I missed you," she whispered after opening her eyes with a smile.

I decided to give up the tough act and finally come clean. It was too much of a pain in my ass to have to pretend I didn't care when it was obvious to everyone around us that I cared more than normal. "I missed ya, too."

She smiled at that. "You know, Sophia missed you, too."

I grinned, laughing with her. "Oh really?"

She nodded. "Can you keep a secret?" she mock-whispered.

I nodded, feeling a bit silly.

"She's got a crush on you."

I felt my face heat up. A little girl had a crush on me? Weird. "Really?"

Keagan nodded, smirking. "She told me so. She said she likes your accent."

I was surprised. Most people found it annoying. "Do _you_ like my accent?" I asked, pushing my forehead against hers a little harder, trying to tilt her head up so I could see straight into her eyes.

She looked up then. "Yes. I love your accent."

I felt myself give her a tiny smile. "Do ya have a crush on me, like Sophia, too?" I asked, hoping for a yes.

She blushed and looked down at our hands. "Maybe… a little…"

I felt my heart beat faster. I put a finger under her chin, lifting her head. She looked up into my eyes.

I leaned down, finally kissing her and completing that moment on the highway. Her lips were soft and moved against mine smoothly. I ran my tongue over her bottom lip just as someone opened the door to the room. We pulled apart, startled.

It was Carol. She blushed a bit at the scene before her. "Sorry," she mumbled, setting two plates of food down on the bedside table. Carol gave us a long, considering look before saying, "She hasn't left your side, you know? Wouldn't even eat."

I looked back to Keagan who was blushing furiously.

Carol smiled at the two of us and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Wouldn't eat, huh?" I wasn't sure if I was flattered or angry with her for neglecting to get some nutrition after what must have been quite a while without food.

"I was too worried to eat," she explained sheepishly.

I frowned, but dropped it. I draped an arm over her, pulling her closer. She snuggled up against my bare chest, kissing the spot just over my heart. I hoped she didn't feel the way it jumped out at her. That would've been embarrassing.

"So you gonna tell me how you got this?" she asked, pointing to the bandages around my torso.

"Well, it started with this dumbass horse…"


	23. We Had Sex

DARYL'S POV:

It took only a few days before Herschel said it was safe for me to be up and walking around again, as long as I took it easy. Nothing too strenuous. Keagan came to check up on my regularly between washing clothes and helping keep watch.

One night when she was on watch, I climbed up the ladder, extremely conscious of the stitches in my side. "Keagan?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"Yeah?" she asked, not taking her eye off the land in front of her.

"I… Uhh… I don't really know… I guess I just kinda wanted to talk… Which is kinda weird fer me… Never really wanted to talk to anybody. But I do wanna talk to you."

She smirked and looked over at me. "Is Daryl Dixon flustered?"

I blushed. "No!"

She laughed a little and then continued on watching the open areas.

"I've got some things I need to tell you…" I said, determined to tell her, no matter how sweaty my palms got, how heavy my tongue got, or how stupid she thought I was.

She looked over at me. "Like what?"

I hesitated for a minute, wondering how I should start. "We had sex in the CDC." I just blurted it out.

She laughed a little. "Funny, Daryl. Really funny."

"I'm serious. We got drunk and had sex. I woke up naked and in your bed. I left before you woke up."

She stopped smiling. She reached a hand up and smacked me hard across the face. She stood up and turned, walking to the opposite end of the RV.

I wanted to be pissed off at her for that, but I had just gotten her back. I didn't have it in me to be mad at her just now. "Keagan, what's the matter?" I asked, walking toward her.

She walked away from me again. "Really, Daryl? Are you so pathetic that you will make something like that up?" she asked, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at me.

Maybe it wasn't too soon to be mad at her. I felt my temper flare, so I turned away from her.

"Dumb bitch," I muttered, climbing down the ladder.

I was headed to my tent, but when I saw Sophia sitting outside, I walked over to her. "Sophia? What are you doin' out o' yer tent?"

She looked up then, smiling widely up at me. "Hi, Daryl. I couldn't sleep, so I came outside to talk to Keagan. But you were talking to her, so I waited till you were done."

What a peppy little kid. After hearing what Keagan had told me about her little crush, I could see it clearly in her eyes. The idolization was something I wasn't used to. I shifted uncomfortably under her intense gaze.

"Well, umm… Be careful, alright?"

She nodded vigorously and smiled again.

I nodded once to her and ruffled her hair a bit before going to my tent, grasping at the stitches in my side. I fell back onto my sleeping bag, thinking things over.

After everything we had been through together, she thought I would make something like that up? What could I possibly hope to gain from that? I couldn't think of anything good that would come from lying to her like that.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hands. I rolled over, thinking maybe tomorrow would be better and we would both be calmed down enough to actually talk things through.

Shows how well I know Keagan.


	24. Sacrificing Prince Charming

DARYL'S POV:

The next day was terrible. Whenever I would try to talk to her, she would throw her hands up and walk away from me, an exasperated and annoyed expression on her face. I couldn't stand not talking to her. It put me on edge and made me more than a little sad.

That day, Glenn announced that he was going to town and offered to pick up stuff everyone wanted. When everyone dispersed, I walked up to him.

"Hey, short round. I need ya to pick somethin' up fer me." I handed him a piece of paper with something scrawled on it.

I knew the idea he would get as soon as he read it, but his assumption would be correct, so I didn't say anything when he opened it and read the one item I wanted.

I knew what I was doing. I was ready for it. I had accepted the fact that I loved Keagan. Whether she was or not, I would still ask. Because I wanted to spend the rest of my nightmarish life with her. Protecting her, holding her, loving her.

So Glenn walked away, shaking his head in wonder at the piece of paper that said, "women's wedding ring."

SOPHIA'S POV:

I could tell something wasn't right with both Daryl and Keagan. Every time Daryl would walk up to Keagan, she would roll her eyes and storm off, trying not to make it too obvious what she was doing. But I could see it. She was avoiding him.

I wondered what had happened between the two that had them acting like this. It made me a little sad. They didn't seem to be truly happy without each other.

I watched Daryl from across the fire. He sat in a chair, cleaning off his arrows with a red rag. I was in a chair opposite, playing with the doll the little Morales girl had given me. "Daryl?" I asked, not looking up from the doll.

"Mmm?" Daryl asked. He didn't look up, either.

"Why is Keagan mad at you?"

He looked up at that, eyes wide. "Wh- uhh… what do ya mean?"

I shrugged. "You keep trying to talk to her, but she wont listen. How come?"

Daryl seemed to be censoring what he was going to say, but finally he admitted, "I told Keagan about something that happened. She didn't know it happened. She thought I was lying to her. So now she's mad at me and every time I try to explain to her what happened, she wont let me."

I nodded. He wasn't giving me the full truth, but what little he was telling me was authentic. "I can get her to talk to you," I said, already devising a plan.

He looked startled. "And how ya gonna do that?"

His accent really was funny. I thought it was kinda cute. I blushed any time he looked at me, but lets be honest, I'm 12. These kind of crushes on older men don't really last long. I would be over Daryl in a week's time. And besides, I couldn't help but notice the sideways glances Carl gave me to make sure I was watching when he was doing something cool…

"I can make Keagan do whatever I want; I'm adorable!" I beamed at him.

He chuckled and nodded. "You are a cute little thang aren't ya?"

Feeling pleased with myself after the compliment from Daryl, I hopped up and walked over to where Keagan was helping the other women with laundry. "Keagan! Can you come play with me!" I whined, looking pouty.

"I would, sweetie, but I've gotta help with the laundry." She frowned.

"That's alright," Andrea said.

"Yeah, we don't have that much left, we can handle it," Lori finished.

Keagan nodded, wiping her wet hands off on her jeans and taking my hand. We walked over to the entrance to me and my mom's tent and sat on the ground.

"So what do you want to play?" Keagan asked, moving a piece of hair out of her face.

"Well, actually I just wanted to talk to you," I admitted sheepishly.

She grinned. "About what?"

"Can you do me a favor?" The wheels in my head were turning quickly now.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can you talk to Daryl for me? I want to know what he thinks of me." I'm so clever.

She seemed tongue-tied for a moment. "I- umm… I uh, guess I could do that." She didn't bother telling me Daryl was way too old for me and didn't have those kind of thoughts about a 12 year old, she just nodded and stood up.

As she walked over to where Daryl was still sitting in his chair by the fire, I snuck behind the tents, eavesdropping and peeking out from the side of the tent.

"Daryl!" she said, kicking his boot.

He looked up. "Keagan," he greeted.

"Someone sent me to talk to you."

I grinned.

She put her hands on her hips and Daryl stood up. "Who? And about what?" he put one hand behind his back and threw me a thumbs-up where Keagan couldn't see it. How did he know I was back here? Oh right, he's a hunter.

"Sophia. She wanted me to ask you something. But I know she's working for you. So what did you want that was so important you had do drag Sophia into this?" she asked, her attitude growing more and more angered.

He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her against him, hugging her tight. She stood completely still, not moving to hug him back.

"You gotta believe me," he whispered.

Keagan shook her head. "How can I be sure you're telling the truth? Why should I trust you?" she asked begrudgingly after a moment's hesitation.

"Because I love you."

Keagan was shocked. She stepped back, eyes wide. "Daryl," she whispered.

"I love you Keagan."

She moved forward, kissing him hard on the lips.

I let out a quiet squeal of delight.

When she pulled away, she whispered, "I love you, too."

I didn't know what they were fighting about, but it struck me as odd that Keagan dropped it so easily; she wasn't one to give up. But I guess people in love really do crazy things.

I smiled at them and stepped out from around the corner. "Mission accomplished," I said, alerting the two to my presence.

They looked up and smiled at me, arms around each other. Then they opened their arms to me. I ran forward, hugging both of them.

"Well, I gotta go finish helping with the laundry, it looks like they have more left than they thought," Keagan said after a moment.

When she had left, Daryl smirked down at me. "Thanks, kiddo." He leaned down and hugged me, leaving me breathless.

As he pulled away, I pecked him shyly on the cheek. He looked surprised.

"Be nice to her," I said, skipping away.

Daryl was supposed to be my prince charming (Keagan and I had agreed we were the perfect couple when we were lost, traipsing through the woods), but I thought Keagan and Daryl made a much better couple. Besides, Carl had watched mine and Daryl's exchange with jealous eyes, gripping his pencil a bit harder than necessary.

I smiled and went to play with my doll.


	25. Happily Ever After

DARYL'S POV:

It was late afternoon when Glenn got back from town. He came straight to my tent before he delivered his other packages. He had a small plastic bag with tons of rings. He pulled some out. "I grabbed all of them because I wasn't sure what size she was or what kind she might want. Figured you would probably know that. And I grabbed some men's, too. In case she says yes. Gotta be prepared."

I grinned up at him. "Thank shor- Glenn."

He smiled at the correct use of his name.

"You're an okay kid for a chinaman."

He frowned, walking out. I barely heard him mumble, "I'm Korean." on his way out.

I sorted through the rings for about twenty minutes, finally deciding on a pair of rings. Hers was a slime silver band with music notes inscribed around the outside and a large diamond in the middle. On the inside, "I love you" was inscribed in fancy script. Mine was much the same, without the diamond or music notes, and it was a bit thicker. I tested the size of it and it fit perfectly. I hoped that this ring would fit her.

I put my ring in my backpack, along with the bag of rings (maybe someday they would be worth something again) and slipped her ring in my pocket. I came out of my tent to find it had gotten dark.

Everyone was gathered around the fire, eating some kind of canned food that didn't look all too appetizing.

I sat in an empty chair and ate silently, listening as the others swapped their pre-apocalypse stories. After everyone was finished eating, T-dog said, "I wish we had some music or something."

Keagan's eyes lit up and she held up a finger, running into her tent. When she came out, she was holding her iPod. "Its only got a tiny bit of battery left and I don't have a charger, so everyone make this worth it." She turned the volume all the way up and chose a song, putting it in the bottom of a clean pot so it would echo.

It was a song I knew. Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback. I frowned, remembering how the first time I heard it was in my truck with Merle after picking him up from jail… again.

Rick stood and offered his hand to Lori, who took it and they began spinning around the fire to the music. I noticed Shane watching with hard eyes.

Dale started spinning Andrea, who laughed and wobbled a bit. Must not have very good balance.

I stood and walked up behind Keagan, winding my arms around her waist. She put her hands over mine and leaned back, resting her head on my chest.

"Dance with me?"

She smiled and nodded, turning around.

"_You're never gonna be alone, from this moment on…_"

She wrapped both arms around my neck and I rested both hands in the curve of her waist. We began shifting from side to side, not sure how the other danced.

"So…" she began a bit awkwardly. "Is this how you always dance?"

I smiled and grabbed her hand, spinning her around and moving both feet forward, following the beat of the music. We turned and dipped and spun and laughed. But most of all we held each other. By the time the song was over, Keagan and I were out of breath and the campers were watching with smiles.

"Holy crap, Daryl can dance?" Glenn asked from somewhere in the row of people not dancing.

I laughed along with the others.

Then another song came on. It was one I recognized well. I could probably sing it in my sleep.

"_We went out last night, like we swore we wouldn't do._"

I had heard it many times when I went to a bar.

Keagan sighed.

"What?" I asked.

She looked up, a sad smile on her face. "This song reminds me of my brother. When I was a teenager, I was kind of wild. When my brother turned 13, I started taking him out with me when I went partying. One night when we were driving home - drunk of course, I don't know how I lived to see my 20's - this song came on the radio and my brother turned it way up and told me this was our theme song. I just miss him."

I frowned. "What was his name?"

She smiled a little bit. "His name was Teagan if you can believe that. Keagan was originally a boys name and Teagan is supposed to be a girls name."

I smiled a little bit.

Her brows furrowed as she stared at the ground. "I guess my parents were kinda weird. Anyway, we called him Teague as a nickname since that was little more manly than Teagan."

The song ended and a new one began. A slow song. Realize by Colbie Caillat. I had heard it once or twice, but I had never been much for sappy slow love songs. Now seemed the perfect time for this song.

We started dancing again, positioned as we had been at the start of the last song. We moved from side to side, holding each other close. She put her ear to my chest and listened to my heart speed up and finally slow down.

"So, um," I cleared my throat.

Oh God. This was it. This was my one shot. It was perfect and I couldn't let this moment slip away. I needed to do this now. My palms clammed up and my face burned.

"Keagan?" I asked, my voice raspy.

She looked up then. "Yes?"

I reached into my pocket and stopped dancing.

"I love you. When I first met ya, I though' you was crazy. Now I know ya are."

Everyone around us laughed, so I guessed they were listening. Only Glenn knew what was happening, though. I felt the ring and pulled it into the palm of my sweaty hand, pulling my fist out of my pocket.

"But that's what I love about ya. You're crazy and that drives me crazy. Ya don't get mad at me when I get pissed off, ya just deflect it with your own smartass comeback. You're crazy and ya can be mean. But you're also sweet. Ya have this way with people that they cant help but love ya. You're strong an' compassionate. You're mean-spirited an' at th' same time, th' sweetest person I ever met. You're everythin' I want and more. Ya pick me up when I want tuh lay down and give up. When I feel like we don't have a single chance at surviving' in this world, I just look at ya and I remember that not only do I have the will tuh live, but I have a reason to."

Since when did I become a fucking poet? I shook off the thought and let the words take over. I slowly got down on one knee and heard the squeals of the girls and the chuckles of the men.

"Keagan, I love you, and I want tuh spend th' rest of my life, however long or short that is, with you. Will you marry me?" I held the ring up to her, my heart beating quickly.

_Please let her say yes._

Her eyes were filled with water and her eyes were wide. Everything was completely silent as even the trees around us waited for her answer.

She cried out and fell down, flinging her arms around me. "Yes!"

Cheers and applause erupted all around us.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her. "Finger, please." I said, grabbing onto her left hand. I slid the ring onto her ring finger. It slid on easily. "Perfect fit," I murmured.

There were shouts and clapping heard from miles away, but that night, they didn't care. They would just put two people on guard that night.

* * *

><p><strong>So, what do you guys think? Sequel? No sequel? Dont Care? Review and we'll see ;) <strong>


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